


A Small Problem

by Little_Aliens



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies)
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/M, Fluff, Guardians Family, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Fic, Other, Parental Guardians, Past Child Abuse, Uncle Kraglin, Uncle Yondu
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-07
Updated: 2018-05-02
Packaged: 2018-09-22 15:27:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 32
Words: 69,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9614042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Little_Aliens/pseuds/Little_Aliens
Summary: The Guardians pick up a weird half Terran who is strong enough to send Drax flying, she's been quite helpful for a few jobs and has earned her spot among the others. There's only one problem. Bryn is seven years old and still cries when they leave her behind. After she gets wounded during a mission the crew drop their child off with Yondu promising to pay him for keeping an eye on her while they go off to another dangerous job. Kraglin and the rest of the ravagers tolerate her presence, wondering when their boss is going to cross Quill and get rid of the girl. But the Captain likes her, gets the same feeling he had when Peter was growing up, and grins when she calls him Uncle Yondu. Making Kraglin doubt whether the Guardians will ever get their kid back, not that he minds so much anymore.Or.How a small alien/terran child worms her way into the hearts of all the adults, one Rocket Raccon, and a little Groot.





	1. Chapter 1

"So," Peter started looking at the yellow alien on the screen in front of them. "You're going to pay us fifteen thousand credits to get your luggage back?" He asked sternly. Gamora stood behind him, staring at the screen blandly as if the amount of money was something they weren't excited about. In reality it was much more than they could hope for from a simple steal back job. 

"It's very important to me," the woman on the other side of the screen explained. 

"How is it," Rocket piped in from behind them. "That with such a big price point no one has finished this job for you yet?" 

Peter and Gamora turned from their friend back towards their caller with curious expressions on their faces. 

"They all think it's a joke and won't take me seriously," she seethed. "So far you're the only ones to listen to-" 

"Friends," Drax announced himself as he walked into the room. "Our child's clothing is broken, when I tried to pick her up it ripped," he explained holding a chunk of clothing out for them to see. 

"He was going to make me fly," a small voice chirped up from behind the large alien. A small child came up to them excitedly, as if she had just been given candy of some sort. Her clothing was, in fact, ruined. Where the hood had been was gone along with her left sleeve and shoulder. All that remained of the shirt was the right sleeve, shoulder, and a bit of the bottom. 

"I told you not to pick her up like that," Peter complained kneeling down to look at the damage. "Are you okay Bryn?" He asked before the girl nodded. 

"I won't break her," Drax sounded insulted. "It was Rocket who cut her head last." 

"She got in the way, how was I supposed to know she was going to jump in front of me," Rocket growled walking over to them. 

"Drax made me fly last time and it was really fun, so I asked him to do it again and it ripped," Bryn explained while Peter tried to salvage what was left of her shirt. "I didn't know it was going to break, I am sorry," she hung her head after realizing they were mad. 

"No it's not your fault," Peter ruffled her hair. 

"Excuse me," a distressed voice interrupted them. Suddenly remembering they were still on a call Peter stood up and looked at the yellow alien again, but with a more irritated expression. 

"What?" 

"Are you going to help me or not?" She said bitterly. Apparently being ignored for a child had made her feel a little disregarded. 

"She doesn't sound very nice," Bryn whispered to Rocket as he walked closer to her. He grinned at her in agreement before tugging at her hand to follow him. "Can I punch her?" She questioned making him chuckle. 

"Maybe when we meet her," he laughed. 

"No," Peter cut off their conversation to answer Bryn. 

"You won't?" The yellow alien sounded wounded now. Exasperated Peter glanced at Gamora who was sitting at the table, clearly bored with the conversation. "I'll give you twenty twenty-five thousand, please," she begged. At that Gamora flicked her eyes over to Peter and smiled. 

"Okay," he agreed. The girl on the other side of the call sighed in relief and started to tell them what happened and who had taken her stuff. 

After they finished with the details and figuring everything out they stopped at an outpost in order to stock up on supplies and get new clothes for Bryn. It'd been almost five months since they decided to keep the child, and by now she'd become one of them.

It had started as a recue job. A bunch of kids kept getting taken from different planets and a bunch of the parents had pooled together their money in order to set up a bounty to get their little ones home. Turned out that some Kree was collecting children on mixed races and pitting them against each other, to see which race was the strongest. 

Bryn had met Gamora on the inside and helped her get the others out, according to the other children she was the strongest one there. She was the collectors favorite because she was half Terran half Heorcthin, which was a race that was born either dark as night, or white as snow. Black meant power and strength, those dark skinned ones were seen as royalty. While white skin meant weak, and lower class. What was interesting about Bryn was how the races had mixed within her. She had strawberry blond hair that almost looked pink, teal-grey Terran eyes, that she claimed were both from her mother, and a humanoid child figure. Her hands and feet were black, like the powerful side of the Heorcthins, while the rest of her body was the white of the weaker side.

When Drax ran into the room she thought he was another guard and hit him with enough force for the large alien to be thrown across the room. Rocket liked her almost immediately for this reason, as he was always ready for a little chaos. 

Only when the mission had finished and all the children had been claimed did they learn that Bryn's father had died a year ago and the reason she was with the Kree was because she had been sold to him. She was the start of his collection. Instead of handing her over to the authorities they decided to keep her, if only for some extra support if they were ever in a tight spot and needed people to be thrown around. 

At first she barely spoke to them, but soon found that they wouldn't hit her for speaking out of turn or stop feeding her if she acted out. By now they were all used to her, and Groot liked her, so there was no way they were getting rid of her. 

.o.o. 

"Drax, Bryn, now!" Peter yelled through the comms. 

"It is time to fight tiny one," the massive alien said pulling out his knives. He looked down towards the child next to him, making sure that she knew that is was their turn to kick butt. "The door is not open," he stated as they ran towards the hull of the ship. 

"I wanna do it," Bryn cheered jumping towards the vault like door. Her tiny fists connected with it quickly, making it shudder and shriek as the metal seemed to tear itself apart. A few more hits had it almost ripped out of the interior of the ship, and one final punch launched it into the room in front of them. 

As soon as it was out of the way Drax and Bryn continued forward until they were met with surprised pirates. One of the aliens near the front towered over those around him, had dark blue skin, shinning yellow eyes, and a malicious grin on his face after his eyes found the child in front of him. Bryn caught his expression and seemed to shrink under his gaze, most of the time she had been background support and didn't have to deal with too many people. This was her first time making a path to their destination by beating people up, that was usually Drax's job. 

"How's about we kill the big guy and keep this little 'un to ourselves?" The pirate questioned of the rest of the crew behind him. His grin revealed the sharp teeth hiding under his lips, "don't you look tasty, so young, so soft." 

"Not my child!" Drax roared upon hearing the words. Launching himself in the crowd of them and landing hits and punches. Caught up in his vigor Bryn punched the red alien nearest to her, sending the man flying and then going after the next person.

Bryn fought well for a seven year old, though unlike most children she had lost her mother and father rather young and was then sold to the highest bidder as a rare item. Although, just because she had superhuman strength, it did not make her invincible.

Upon kicking what looked like a Xandarian out of the way and towards Drax's waiting fist an A'askvariian whirled towards her quickly. Bryn was able to dodge the first tentacle that shot towards her but the second, which was holding a knife, streaked past so fast she was unable to move away and grazed her cheek. She gasped at the sudden pain and tried to fight back but a third knife wielding tentacle nicked her forehead and knocked her to the ground. 

Drax was still preoccupied with the man from before but growled angrily as the tentacled alien picked Bryn up by her pale pink hair. 

"Let me go you slimy slop," she hissed coming up short on insults. She wanted to appear strong, but on the inside couldn’t help but tremble in fear at the sight of his needle-like teeth. 

"Gladly," the green alien sneered before slamming her back into the ground. Having just finished off three pirates Drax had moved towards Bryn not a second before the A'askvarii had spoken. 

"No!" Drax's shout was so loud through their ear pieces it made them wince. 

"You don't have to shout big guy," Peter winced. "Gamora is almost there for backup," he said agitated at the noise. 

"The tiny one is not moving," he shouted again. 

"What?" The rest of the guardians seemed to shout all at once. Peter had stalled in his retrieval of the luggage and couldn’t help but imagine the small form of Bryn bloody and bruised in some pirates grasp. 

"You were supposed to make sure that didn't happen," Rocket sneered at Drax from inside the ship. He was waiting in the Milano, jamming all signals and making sure the Pirates couldn't communicate to each other inside. 

"There are a lot of pirates," was the large alien's reply. 

"Really? Is that it?" Rocket exclaimed sarcastically. "Next time you can watch the ship and I'll make sure our little munchkin doesn't get hurt," he seethed. 

"Gamora how close-," Peter began to ask her. 

"I'm there," she answered before something cracked and a scream could be heard. 

What was left of the Pirates didn't last long with both Gamora and Drax beating down on them, Peter had gotten the luggage and told them to meet up back where they had come in. Rocket was waiting for them to board so they could get out of there and collect their bounty, all the while cursing and spitting in rage. 

He hadn’t cared for Bryn at all at first, but she was curious and wouldn't leave him alone. She listened to him talk about machines and bombs for hours and even tried to make some things herself, though they all failed. Plus, she was always ready for mischief against Drax, because she thought his reactions were silly, and also because Rocket would plan with her. 

Peter fidgeted with the handle of the yellow alien's luggage while waiting for Gamora, Drax, and Bryn to get back. Worried about what might have happened he sighed in relief when he saw that the child looked mostly okay in Gamora's arms. Despite the fact that she wasn't moving and seemed to be bleeding from a couple cuts on her head, apparently she had also gotten red Terran blood from her mother. 

"How is she?" He questioned as they ran towards the ship. 

"She breathes," Drax said before they got to the door. Peter and Gamora stared at him irritably before the door opened and they were back in the Milano. A moment later they were leaving the Pirates behind and heading back towards where their buyer was staying, and then Rocket was in front of them seething. 

"Shouldn’t have let her go," he grumbled as Gamora set her down on the table. 

"She was so excited when we said she could help though," Peter mumbled cleaning the blood off her cheek. 

"Yeah she was," Rocket muttered while getting out a bandage. 

"No sign of a concussion," Gamora whispered putting down the medical scanner. "But there will be a bump." She then very carefully brushed some of Bryn's hair aside so she could pat her forehead softly. Most of the time the child was just in the way, but a small part of the Zehoberei didn't mind the tiny hands that sometimes found the back of her pants. Or the way Bryn had a habit of humming Peter's songs when she was wandering around the ship. 

"Next time I will stay beside her," Drax said thoughtfully. 

"You don't get a next time," Rocket almost exploded at him. 

"She wasn't ready," Gamora spoke sternly interrupting them. "She stays on the ship next time," she emphasized the last two words. 

"Oh," Rocket laughed. "She's not going to like that. I'm not going to be the one to make her cry, someone else has to do it." 

"I'll tell her," Peter said after making sure all the blood had been wiped away. "For now, she just needs some sleep." 

"You're going to make her cry," Rocket stated. Peter scoffed quietly before picking up the child gently and moving towards her room. 

"No I won't, Bryn likes me," he bragged. 

"She might not like you afterwards," Gamora sighed walking back towards the helm. 

"What do you think big guy?" Peter questioned of Drax. 

"You will make her cry."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter makes Bryn cry but Rocket saves the day. Yondu accepts the job.

A small frown etched itself into her features while her eyes started to swell with tears that she refused to let fall. Peter hesitated in front of her, wanting to stop while he was ahead because she already looked so crestfallen. 

After Bryn had woken up and gotten something to eat Peter took her down to the stereo system and sat her down carefully, she was already babbling about what their next job might be. Getting hurt hadn't seemed to bother her in the slightest, which made Rocket chuckle, she sure had spirit for someone so young. Yet they couldn't allow her to go back into the crossfire so easily after what had happened the day before. 

"You understand why I'm saying this right?" Peter asked softly after he'd told her. Bryn nodded her head slowly before sniffling again and wiping the moisture out of her eyes. 

"B-b-because," she stuttered. "I did a bad thing and got hurt." 

"Not a bad thing," Peter tried to reassure her. He went to ruffle her hair but stopped when a tear escaped down her cheek and dripped off her chin. "You scared us," he tried to explain. Clearly talking to children wasn't his strong point, at least when it came to Bryn anyway. 

"I'm sorry," she started to actually cry now. "I didn't mean to." He watched helplessly as her small black hands went to rub at her eyes and push away the liquid that continued to build up within them. Peter glanced around the ship frantically and saw Rocket watching them from another room, he looked pretty pissed off. 

'Help me,' Peter mouthed to his friend. But Rocket simply huffed and disappeared into the ship. 

"Are you going to get rid of me now?" Her small voice brought him back to the heart break in front of him. 

"No, no Bryn, why would you say that?" Peter seemed to sag under her teary eyes. 

"I don't want to be alone again," she wailed. 

"She is crying Quill," Drax stopped in a doorway to the room. 

"Really? I hadn't noticed," Peter grumbled towards the large alien. 

"Then you are stupid and blind." 

"You talk to her then," he growled moving out of the way. 

"Tiny one," Drax addressed the child confidently. Bryn moved her hands away from her eyes slowly to look up at him, her cries dying down to whimpers and sniffles. "You cannot come because you are weak." 

There was a moment of silence where Peter gaped at Drax and Bryn was quiet before she hid her face completely with her arms. She wasn't crying anymore, but her small form still shook and trembled in front of them. 

"Why did you tell her that?" 

"But it is true," he countered glaring down at Peter. "Only the weak cry when they cannot do something." 

"You're not helping," Peter seethed pushing the alien away. Behind them Bryn let her arms fall away from her face to reveal that a tear streaked face, but she wasn't making noise anymore and instead stared defiantly at Drax. 

"If I don't cry," she wiped her unbandaged cheek dry. "Can I come?" 

"No Bryn," Peter turned back towards her. She jerked her head away from him moodily to look at the ground. "It's too dangerous." 

"But I'll be good-," she started to argue her eyes watering again when Rocket interrupted. 

"You have to stay in the ship next time because we have a _very_ important job for you," he explained. Walking up behind them Rocket placed potted Groot next to Bryn with a grimace on his face. 

"A job?" she questioned. Peter and Drax exchanged curious looks before marveling at how quickly Bryn's expression had changed. Kids sure were bipolar. "For me?"  

"Just for you," he assured her. 

"What is it?" 

"I need you to protect Groot when we leave the ship," he said motioning towards the smiling plant. "You see, some bad people want him, and it's dangerous for him to be left alone. I wasn't sure if you were strong enough to do this by yourself, but now I know you are," he heaved himself up next to her on the bench.  

"Really?" Her eyes brightened in delight. 

"Do you think you can protect him for me?" He questioned eyeing the child. 

"Yeah," she sniffed the last of her tears away.  

"Good. So the next time we're on a mission what is your job?" 

"To stay with Groot!" She said triumphantly.  

Rocket looked up at Peter with a grin on his face while Bryn looked towards Groot with a determined expression in her eyes. She then pushed herself off the bench and grabbed Groot carefully before walking towards her room. 

"At least she's not crying anymore," Rocket moved to get off the bench. 

"I hate you," Peter muttered taking the ladder towards the helm.

 

.o.o. 

 

Bryn's new job kept her at bay for a while, and everything seemed to be working out just fine until the ship was breeched while they were away. She was able to defeat the Kree because she knew the ship better than he did but she still took quite a bit of damage. Her proud smile when they returned was cute, but the black eye and bleeding lip did nothing to smother their nerves. Somehow the Guardians continued to forget that Bryn was only seven and needed someone to take care of her when they couldn't. 

They argued about what to do with her for days. When the option of getting rid of her completely was brought up everyone started shouting at each other, until a sleepy Bryn walked into the room, anyway. All their fights after that were much quieter, but still held the same level of emotion and animosity. In the end it was an unheard of, crazy idea, but the only thing they could agree on. 

"There's no way he's going to say yes," Gamora sighed harshly. 

"We can at least try," Peter said. "I mean it wouldn't be a problem if any of you had any other friends," he complained glancing at the rest of them. "But no, it's just me." 

"I will get the tiny one," Drax announced walking away. 

"He might kill her, or get rid of her for all we know," Rocket muttered bitterly. 

"He didn't get rid of me, and I turned out okay," Peter argued before sighing. "Look, I'm not starting this again. It's ringing." 

"Well, well, well," on the screen appeared the centaurian they were trying to reach. "You calling me," Yondu laughed. "Must be something important." 

"Yondu," Peter greeted with a nod. "How is it going?" 

"So what is it Peter?" The man asked with a growl. "You never call me up just to run your mouth." 

"We have a business proposition for you," Peter said. "Should be easy after all the years you took care of me," he muttered trying not to emphasize the words 'took care'. 

"Spit it out boy, haven't got all day." Rocket sighed behind him, shaking his head. Out of all the Guardians Rocket had been the most against sending Bryn away to be taken care of during their jobs. He hated seeing the girl hurt of course, but Yondu? There had to be someone better. 

"Recently we picked up another crew member, but she's not strong enough to take care of herself and we can't spare anyone to watch her when we're chasing a bounty." He explained. Drax had roused Bryn from sleep so Yondu could get a good look at what he might be getting himself into. 

"Wait," Yondu chuckled on the screen. "Are you telling me you picked up a kid of your own? You really are one of us boy," he laughed heartily. "What happened? Did you steal someone's kid after they crossed you? I bet that little beast got hungry or something," he continue to chortle. Rocket growled darkly behind Peter but the Terran shushed him before he started yelling. 

"It doesn't matter why we picked her up. Bryn is one of us now," Peter explained. 

"Oh, you even named it, probably your first mistake," Yondu joked, making Rocked snarl again. 

"What we're asking is that when we go for a bounty for a few days you take care of her." 

"I ain't no babysitter Quill," the centaurian said sternly. 

"You don't have to watch her the whole time, just let her explore. She loves exploring, tells me about it almost every day," Peter sounded a little exasperated now. Yondu was quiet for a moment before his grin returned. 

"What do I get for watching your baggage?" 

"A third of the bounty," he stated.  Yondu nodded as if he had been expecting to hear such an amount. 

"Do I get to meet her right now?" The blue skinned man mused. 

Peter jerked his head to the right and saw that Drax was still holding Bryn awkwardly under her arms, as if she was something smelly he wanted to keep away from himself. He nudged his head in the direction of the screen but it was Gamora who shoved the large alien into view. Bryn's tired eyes lit up at the sight of a new person and she immediately tried to escape Drax in order to stand on her own. 

"Who's that? Is he nice?" She questioned squirming to get away. "What's your name?" She was able to ask before Drax dropped her out of view. 

Yondu almost laughed at the sight of it. He had to admit he was a little intrigued by the idea of making money for simply making sure some alien kid didn’t get herself killed on his ship. It was almost free money, and hell he'd already dealt with Quill as a child, what could be so hard about this girl. With her big eyes and overall cheerful demeanor it was no wonder that the Guardians had gotten so attached to her. Forever the weak ones when it came to picking teammates. 

"Why did you drop her?" Peter's voice could be heard from the other side of the screen. 

"She told me to," Drax complained. 

"Really? I didn't hear her say that." They started to argue a little before a voice cut them off sharply, probably the green skinned woman. The child's face was back in view a second later, this time Peter was holding her and she still looked just as excited to see him on the screen. 

"I want half," Yondu stated with a fake smile on his face. He waited for Quill to complain and throw back another price at him but he didn't. 

"Fine. See you tomorrow." 

Apparently the Guardians disconnected the call right afterwards because the screen was blank in the next moment which made Yondu laugh. He'd probably end up dumping the kid on Kraglin anyway. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kraglin is not a good uncle. Bryn makes a new friend named Zeyka.

"Let's get some things out in the open here," Rocket started off. 

The Milano was docked at the Eclector early the next day, where Drax, Peter, Gamora, Rocket, and Bryn were met by Yondu and Kraglin. The centaurian grinned as soon as he saw the small child that was hiding behind Drax's legs at the sight of a strange new place that Peter had said would be fun to explore. 

"We're leaving Bryn here so she doesn't hurt herself," the smallest guardian went on. "So if we come back and see she has some new injury there will be hell to pay," he growled. 

"Are you threatening me, little beast?" Yondu almost laughed. 

"That's right!" 

"He made a very big bomb," Peter explained before the blue man could chuckle. "Powerful enough to take out a small planet." 

"That means," it was Gamora who spoke this time. Most often it was Rocket who was protective of Bryn, but the thought of leaving their child with someone else had snapped something within her. "If you decide to take this job lightly you're dead." Her tone was stern. 

It was Yondu's turn to stiffen, though the grin did not leave his face. Somehow he hadn't considered what might happen to him or the rest of the Ravagers if something might go wrong with this deal. Surely a child wasn't worth killing so many other people over? 

"Bryn will tell us everything that happens here while we're gone," Peter was being so serious it almost made Kraglin snicker in amusement.  "We also have a tracker on her, so if you try to ditch her somewhere we'll know." 

"In other words," Rocket interrupted. "Do your job, the job we agreed upon, or die." 

"She must really be something for you to have so many rules," Yondu frowned slightly. "I think you're forgetting I could just as easily kill all of you," he threatened. 

"That is no way to make money," Drax laughed as if Yondu was a fool for suggesting he kill his source of income. 

"You can follow our rules and get paid when we pick her up, or we can leave," Peter said. 

"How long is this job going to take?" Kraglin questioned eyeing the child suspiciously.  

"Couple days, three at the most. You'll be getting ten thousand credits at the end of it," Rocket sneered. 

"Is that all then? Are you done trying to scare us?" Yondu said. 

Once the guardians knew that Yondu understood what would happen should he choose to ignore their warnings they sorted out the rest of the details. Bryn come with a bag of clothes, and some things to occupy her, though they wouldn't last too long. Peter explained a few quirks that she had, for instance, Bryn wouldn't eat unless someone was eating next to her, and she didn't like being left alone for too long. 

Within a few more minutes Peter was kneeling down to be on the same level as Bryn in order to say goodbye to her and explain where they were going to be for the next few days. 

"Is uncle Yondu going to play with me?" She asked curiously. Behind them Yondu had only faintly heard the child call him uncle and was resisting the urge to sneer at her. 

"You'll have to ask him, he might get busy," Peter said ruffling her hair with a laugh. Though he knew that was likely not going to happen. 

"Okay," she sighed sounding disappointed. He then rose to his feet and turned towards the direction they had come from but before he could say anything else Bryn was hugging his legs tightly. "Don't forget about me, okay?" 

"We won't," he promised. 

After hugging everyone's legs and getting a nod from Rocket they were gone, much to Bryn's dismay. Yondu was expecting the child to cry, but all she did was frown sadly at their departure before turning around to look at them with a determined expression in her eyes. 

"Listen up short stuff," Yondu said blandly before she could say anything. "I don’t got time to babysit you. That’s why uncle Kraglin here is going to take care of you." At the mention of it Kraglin paled, although he had figured the job would fall to him it was still annoying to hear it come from his mouth. "And that means it's your job," he said turning towards the Xandarian. "To make sure nothing happens to her." 

"A'right captain," he grunted, not excited for the days to come. 

"Well," Yondu muttered looking from Bryn to Kraglin. "Enjoy." He then walked away and left the two to stare at each other. 

"What's your name?" Kraglin snarled at her. 

"Bryn," she didn’t seem at all startled by his tone. 

"Follow me and don’t talk to anyone," he grumbled turning away from her. Bryn grabbed her bag of stuff and walked quietly behind the man, gazing around at everything wondrously. It hadn't really hit her yet that the guardians weren't going to be there for her at the end of the day, for now she was just excited to be somewhere new. 

They passed by some other ravagers that sneered and snickered at them until Kraglin shouted about how she was the bosses and no one was to mess with her. At one point they walked past the engine room and Bryn stopped in order to get a look at it. Rocket always made a point to tell her was he was doing to the ship and let her touch things that wouldn't explode. 

"Can I go see?" She asked excitedly. The words didn't reach Kraglin and she tried again. "Uncle Kwagin," she hollered after him. The sound of his butchered name made Kraglin frown as he turned to look at her. 

"Keep moving," he muttered trying not to growl at her. 

 Bryn's face fell for a moment before she followed after him. They walked past a lot more things that Bryn wanted to explore until they got to her room, which had been a storage room that they put a cot in just for her. At night the door locked automatically, to keep the rest of the ravagers out of her room, just in case they were curious about the extra cargo they had picked up. 

It was a little bit bigger than her room in the Milano, but had far fewer things inside. The guardians had done their best to get her some pictures, or even some random toys in her own room, but there was nothing on the metal walls for her. 

"Stay in here," Kraglin said blandly. "I'll come get you for lunch in a couple hours." Bryn had been putting her bag down on the bed as he'd turned to leave the room. 

"I wanna go with-," the door slammed shut before she could finish. "You." She felt like crying at the rejection but remembered what Drax had said about people who cried. "I'm not weak," she said proudly to herself before taking out some of her clothes and a drawing pad. 

.o.o. 

When Kraglin had returned for her there were drawings on the floor and clothes all over the bed. Bryn's teal-grey eyes lit up at the sight of him and she jumped to her feet running over to the Xandarian as if they were friends. 

"Can we go explore now?" She asked with a smile. 

"I'm taking you to eat, and then we're coming back here," he said faking a smile. 

"Okay!" Why she was excited he would never know. 

On the way to the cafeteria Bryn was just as excited by everything she saw, at one point tugging Kraglin's pants in order to show him what she thought was, in her words, super cool. It was a piece of a broken gun. He sat her down at a table before setting a tray of food down in front of her and then walking away to get his own. According to Peter she didn’t eat by herself, which was annoying, but it would be even more annoying if the boss hated him for blowing such an easy job. 

It was no fun to eat alone, Bryn had discovered that after Drax had sat her down by herself at the table in the Milano. When they all ate together it was much more exciting, she wanted to tell Kraglin that but he was already walking away by the time she looked up. 

Around her all kinds of people and aliens were talking to each other, but her table was empty. Sagging in her seat Bryn stared at her food sadly, even Groot wasn't here to keep her company. When a couple minutes had gone by and Kraglin did not return Bryn scooted herself off of the table and back towards the way they had come in. Peter had always told her that she could explore the Milano as long as she didn't put any dents in the ship and figured it was probably the same when it came to uncle Yondu's ship as well. Turning a corner sharply Bryn ran right into someone's legs and fell back on her bottom with a soft grunt. Staring down at her was a large, probably a little bit taller than Drax, thin orange skinned alien with large black eyes. He had the same shape and number of arms and legs that Peter did, but his head was bare like Drax. 

"What's this?" He questioned peering down at Bryn. She looked up at him with wide curious eyes before a smile broke out onto her face. 

"You're even taller than Drax," she exclaimed jumping back to her feet. 

"Am I?" He looked surprised to see her. "And who is this Drax?" 

"He's like my dad," she said measuring her arm higher into the air. She wanted to show the orange man how tall Drax was but couldn't quite reach high enough. 

"Does he live here?" 

"No," she sagged sadly. "I'm staying with uncle Yondu because they're working." 

 The alien faltered at her words. After Peter had left to go out on his own the crew figured it had seen its last child running around the halls of the ship. Apparently they'd been wrong. Initially the alien was going to take the child towards the helm to see if she was anyone's cargo, maybe they'd stolen her in order to get a ransom or something. But now that he knew she was the captains he was sure that she had probably wondered off on her own, it was something Peter had always seemed to do when he was younger. 

"Are you supposed to be with him right now?" He asked, watching the girl's face twist into a pout. 

"With Kwagin," she said. He looked down at her confused, whatever a Kwagin was he had no idea what it meant. 

"Do you want to go see uncle Yondu?" he wanted to laugh at her title for the captain. 

"Not supposed to bother him when he's busy," she glanced around them already bored with the conversation. The alien thought about it for a moment before coming to his own conclusion. 

"Do you want to come work with me?" He mused, positive that she would rather go back to her room than be with a stranger. 

"Yeah!" 

To say he was surprised was an understatement. Work in the med bay was no place for a child, with all the injuries and broken bones she'd probably end up crying, but at the moment it was his only option. The other ravagers wouldn't be nearly as nice to the child as he was trying to be, some of them might kill her for fun. 

"Let's go," he muttered cautiously. Hopefully this wouldn't get him in trouble with the captain. 

"What's your name tall man?" Her small footsteps behind him sounded so silly he smiled. 

"I am Zeyka," he started to walk. 

"I'm Bryn!"

Meanwhile in the cafeteria Kraglin was staring at the empty table where he had sat Bryn down at with a mixture of anger and worry. Anger because he shouldn't be stuck with such a stupid job in the first place, and worry for what the captain would do to him if something happened to the Brat. The way her small hands had tugged at his pants flashed in his mind. With how small she was, if the wrong crew members found her she wouldn't last long and then it'd all be on him.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bryn doesn't sleep well by herself.

"So you can just pop it back into place?" Bryn said over the blue alien's shout of pain. Zeyka nodded slowly, he'd had the child for about an hour now and she had been nothing but mesmerized by everything he did. At first he thought that she was messing with him, but after seeing the amazement in her eyes he knew she wasn't faking. "Cool." 

All he'd done was pop a shoulder back into place and she thought he was the best thing ever, which was cute, and it made him wonder again why she was on the Eclector to begin with. Whoever she belonged to certainly wouldn't want her among a bunch of criminals and thieves like the Ravagers. He'd been asking her little questions about where she lived and who she knew, but had gotten very little information back. 

"I live with Groot," she'd told him sternly. "It's my job to protect him." 

That, in itself, was a strange answer. Though he had discovered that she lived with Peter and the rest of the Guardians of the Galaxy, or so they called themselves. She hadn't really answered him completely about her real parents, but he figured they were probably dead if she was living in a ship with people she wasn't related to. 

"Why aren't you with them right now?" 

"It's too dangerous," she said dejectedly. 

That made sense at least. The good thing about dealing with children, as far as Zekya knew, was that they were easy to manipulate. As long as he said something was really fun or exciting, she was happy to do it for him. At the moment Bryn was making sure all the beds had clean sheets and pillows, although that only lasted for about fifteen minutes and then she was bored asking him about everything again. 

"Look what I found behind the cabinet," she cheered holding up an object in her tiny hand for him to see. It was a rock. 

"Very cool," he was trying his best to sound jealous. She then asked him if she could keep it and he said she could, because why the heck would he want a rock? She went back to looking under and around things for a while until Kraglin stepped into the room with a dark look on his face. An expression he had to soften when Bryn whirled around to look at him. 

"Uncle Kwagin!" She cheered making Zeyka's eyes widen. That's what she had been trying to say? Kraglin? "I made a new friend," she beamed up at him. 

"How nice," the Xandarian grimaced. "What'll the captain say when he finds out you're taking his stuff, Zeyka?" Kraglin questioned of the orange skinned alien, the doctor must have been planning to dissect her or something. 

"I'm sure he'd be more alarmed by the fact that she was wondering around alone," Zeyka stood. He was tall enough to tower over the first mate. The remark made Kraglin frown but he didn't say anything more to the alien. 

"Bryn come on," he motioned for the child to follow him. "You didn't eat lunch, let's go get you something." 

"Okay," she grinned putting the rock in her pocket. "Can I see Zeyka again?" 

"Maybe." 

.o.o. 

The rest of the day went by quickly. Bryn ate a little bit of food but was too excited about her rock to get much down, which confused Kraglin greatly. Then he had the girl follow him around as he went about his daily business, the small patter of feet behind him was something he was kind of already used to by the end of the evening. When she'd stop to look at things he'd notice the halt in footsteps and turn around to call her name irritably. 

Any time he wasn't looking she wondered off and kept picking up things like screws and broken pieces of machinery, kept telling him how cool they were. He still hated having to keep track of her, but it _was_ easy money. And if she got really annoying he could always lock her in her room. 

He dropped her off at her room without so much as a goodnight, though she screamed it at him as he closed the door. 

It was lonely in the room without Groot waving at her, or the sound of Peter and Gamora talking in the next room. The blankets were thin and she shivered, somehow it was all very familiar to the room she used to live in before the guardians picked her up. Empty, quiet, and without warmth. 

Pushing the memories out of her mind Bryn thought of the engine room on the Milano, the heat that radiated out of it, and Rockets laughing voice as he explained how big the explosion would be if it worked. The first night away from home is always the worst, Bryn didn't sleep for long before she was trying to open the door, and then sitting against the wall when she couldn't. 

When Kraglin opened the door the next morning Bryn looked up at him slowly from her spot on the floor, she looked tired but smiled all the same at the sight of the man in front of her. 

"Can we see uncle Yondu today?" She questioned standing up. 

"He's busy right now," Kraglin said blandly. 

"Maybe later then," Bryn seemed to reason with herself for a second before following Kraglin out the door. There was no way the captain was going to play with this kid, but she seemed happy to think it was going to happen and he might as well let her believe that. 

She didn't eat much that morning, claimed she wasn’t hungry and kept getting lost so often that Kraglin left her in her room again for a couple hours until lunch. Zeyka sat with her and she ate a little bit more but was so happy he had remembered her the food was an afterthought. The orange alien offered to take her until dinner saying that it would help Kraglin finish up what he had to do until the next meal. In reality Zeyka was sure Kraglin wasn't really paying attention to the child, and even though she was too curious for her own good he could keep her mostly occupied. 

At first she told him about all the things she had helped Rocket make, and then she talked about Groot and was quiet while she looked for more rocks in the corners of the room. 

After it had been silent for a while Zeyka wondered what had happened to his tiny friend, but laughed softly when he found her sleeping on the ground. He picked her up gently and found that she had been pressing her face into the metal for so long there was now an impression of lines on her cheek.Placing her in the bed and going back to work seemed strange now that it was quiet around him. Though at one point Bryn jerked awake and made the bed squeak, but as soon as she saw him glance over at her she fell back into a deep slumber. 

Bryn was awake again by the time dinner rolled around and was very excited to present Kraglin with an old rusty piece of metal that she claimed was her favorite. He took her back to her room again after that and grunted when she told him good night. 

This time she couldn't escape the room back to the Milano and had a nightmare about the fights that she'd seen while the kidnapper possessed her. There had been a Terran child at one point who was too young and didn't last long when put against a Kree. Bryn had never fought any of the other kids, refused to, which was why he'd locked her away so often as a punishment. He'd only gotten her because when he'd first gone to look for a slave she was thrashing against her captors. He saw Bryn kick one of them in the legs, effectively sweeping his legs out from underneath him, and had been intrigued. 

Yet she wouldn't fight the other kids, no matter how hard he hit her, or how long he locked her away. 

.o.o. 

Kraglin had been expecting to see an excited Bryn grinning as soon as he opened the door to her room, because she was always smiling for some reason, but this time she wasn't. Her eyes found him slowly and though there was a flash of recognition it took a few moments for her to say anything at all. Which was very unusual considering she hadn't done anything but chatter the past couple days, and that meant that Kraglin had done something to make her this way. 

"What's wrong?" He tried not to grunt at her. After turning on the light Kraglin walked slowly over to her, almost afraid of how she might react. 

"Uncle Kwagin?" She questioned getting shakily to her feet. 

"That's me," he peered down at her. Bryn had heavy bags under her eyes and her usually more pale white-grey skin was dark, as if she had gotten sick. 

"Is it time for food?"  

He was quiet for a moment, wondering whether or not he should let her sleep some more, because she looked like she needed more of it. Her usually chipper voice was dull today, sounding like she was simply going through a bland routine. 

"You sound like you need some more sleep," he hesitated before finishing. "Kiddo." 

"No," she reached out for him fast. Her small black hands grabbed at his red pants tightly. "Don't leave me alone." Her teal-grey eyes were wide and frantic, and though he hadn't noticed at first, Kraglin could tell from the shake of her pants that she was shivering. 

"Are you cold?" She shook her head no. "Do you want to go eat?" Nod. 

"I'll be good," she said sternly. 

It was an odd thing for the kid to say. It made him feel strange, like he had been berating her for doing something wrong, when nothing of the sort had happened.  

At breakfast Bryn started nodding off, every once in a while she'd say something about the food she was nibbling on. Mostly she was jerking upwards and trying not to fall asleep, the sight made Kraglin want to laugh. He was waiting for her to faceplant her tray when Zeyka came and sat with them, glancing at Bryn before staring at the first mate bitterly. 

"She didn't sleep at all, did she?" He muttered catching a sleepy grin from the girl. 

"Looks that way." The simple reply earned him disapproving glance. 

"She didn't get much sleep the night before either, passed out on the floor yesterday." The orange alien explained ruffling the girls pink hair with his long slender fingers. She beamed happily up at him before going back to her food mindlessly. "So what are you doing, keeping her up all night?" 

"It's not my fault she doesn't sleep," Kraglin muttered eyeing the girl with sudden distaste. She'd been so easy to manage, like a pet, when she was following him around, but now it was just a hassle. Zeyka regarded him with a blank expression for a second before standing up, grabbing Bryn, and walking away while the first mate sputtered in anger. 

"Give that back," he followed them out into the hall. A few other Ravagers looked up to see what was going on, but didn’t seem to care enough to get up and watch what was happening. Zeyka placed Bryn, who was enjoying being carried around, on the ground carefully before turning back to towering over the Xandarian. Kraglin started to threaten the medic while Zeyka explained how children needed extra care.  

"That," he seethed. "Is a child." He was unsure why he cared so much for the random child that Bryn was, perhaps because she was still innocent and he wanted to keep her that way. No one else on the ship would get as excited about a rock as she did. 

On the other hand, Bryn was more than happy to be on the ground and outside her room and the cafeteria. It was the perfect time for her to explore! 

Which led her to be found by Yondu an hour later. She had gotten to the ceiling somehow, and was sleeping with one of her little arms hanging out of the vent leading into the gun storage room. 

"What in the hell?" He breathed staring at her confused.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bryn bribes Yondu to hang out with her.

Bryn jerked awake after someone grabbed onto her hand and started tugging her out of the vent. She’d been having fun going around in the ventilation system and finding new rooms, places that Kraglin would more than likely never take her to. She didn’t hate the man, even though the Xandarian didn’t take too kindly to the child, Rocket had warned her about how they probably wouldn’t play with her. He also said that if she could explore on her own that she might as well go for it, because they probably wouldn’t let her.  

It was so exciting by herself, though she did wish for someone to tell all about her exploration. She’d just have to wait for when they picked her up and then she could tell Peter all about what she saw. Bryn had been looking into the weapons storage trying to remember what Rocket had told her about specific blasters when she’d fallen asleep. The thoughts of being back on the Milano with her family were warm and comforting, just as she reached to get out of the vent she sagged into slumber. 

“How?” It was Yondu’s voice that drifted up to her. He was standing on some crates, just tall enough to reach her hand that had been dangling. 

He’d been going to the weapon room to check on some new blasters that they’d picked up, and just as he was walking into the room he could see a small arm hanging. At first Yondu had no idea what he was looking at until he saw the head of pink hair that belonged to the child he was supposed to be looking after. When she’d been dropped off the centaurian hadn’t even noticed her black hands, but now wondered what it meant since the rest of her body was the same grey-white color as her face.  

Now he was stepping on containers of things that could explode in order to get to the child. The way his hand had swallowed her tiny one made him frown, because it was the first time he had thought that she was fragile. Initially Bryn was just a paycheck, something easy that he could shove off on someone else, but he’d been watching her out of the corner of his eye.  

He wanted to laugh at the way she followed Kraglin around like a parasite, occasionally bumping into his legs when he stopped and she didn’t notice. She was smaller than Peter had been when they first picked him up, and much more cheerful. Whenever he saw the girl she was smiling broadly. He didn’t want to be stuck with her all the time, but a small dose once in a while certainly couldn’t hurt. 

“Where’s Kraglin?” He questioned after pulling her head free from the vent. She stared at him with a wide curious expression, eyes full of confusion. “You don’t know, do you?” 

“I’m exploring!” She declared with a grin. 

“I can see that,” he grunted. When her other arm was free from the metal tube he reached up and grabbed her under the arms, letting go of her tiny fist. Yondu pulled her completely out and stared at her blandly while stepping back down to the floor. “How was it in there?” 

“Awesome,” she whispered to him. He considered her for a moment, she was covered in dust, not that she cared, but looked tired. If he was going to return her in the same condition that she arrived she'd need more sleep. 

"Well, let's go," he put her back on the ground. 

"Where are we going Uncle Yondu?" The mention of 'uncle' made him grin, Peter had never called him anything like that. 

"To your room for a nap." 

"But," her soft voice stopped him. He'd just started walking towards the door but faltered at the tone of her voice. 

"What?" The questioned sounded a lot harsher than he meant it to. He hadn't been expecting her to flinch and look down at the ground sadly. 

"I wanna stay with you," she mumbled. 

"I have work to do," he said in a bland voice. 

"I'll be quiet, I won't be bad," she seemed to beg him. "I'll even give you my cool thing." 

"Trying to bribe me, huh?" He chuckled at the thought of it. "Peter taught you well. What have you got to offer?" 

"It's really cool," she explained reaching into her pocket. "Zeyka let me keep it, but you can have it if you want it."  

He held out his hand for it and she reached up to drop it into his palm with a frustrated expression, clearly very reluctant to let it go. He lifted it up to look at curiously before deciding it was best not to say what he was thinking. 

It was a rock. 

"Well I guess you can come along," she smiled brightly at the words. "But if you cause me trouble-," 

"I won't!" 

"If you do, back to your room ya go," he said sternly. 

"Okay," she agreed. 

Yondu went back to inspecting the guns, picking up one every so often before handing two to Bryn and walking away with five more in his hands. 

"Carry those for me," he said not even asking her. Bryn nodded enthusiastically, already he had done more to include her in his work than Kraglin had, she was helping him! Yondu had been planning on testing out some of the new guns, and figured he could do it with the kid, she might even like it. 

On the way to the firing range they passed Kraglin who was equal parts relieved, frustrated, and shocked to see Bryn with Yondu. When the Xandarian came up to take Bryn away the little alien hid behind Yondu's legs, clutching the guns close in case he was going to take them away from her. The centaurian explained what was happening and what they were doing, the first mate didn't need to worry about her for a little while. 

The testing room was large, the area in front of them stretched on for at least a hundred yards and made Bryn gasp out a tiny 'wow'. Yondu instructed her where to put the guns down and then told her to get behind him just in case anything backfired, the last thing he needed was for the kid to get injured because she was too curious. 

The first weapon was compact and quick, launching a small exploding blast that started a fire on impact. The next two were a little weak, but the third one was powerful, biting backwards with a bit of recoil before shooting an almost invisible beam of energy that burned right through the target in front of them. Behind him Bryn was making small noises of excitement and disappointment depending on the outcome of the explosion. 

"How about this one?" Yondu questioned of her  as he picked up one of the ones she had been carrying. 

"It doesn't look very strong," she muttered staring at the ground. 

"Huh?" He knew she had spoken but didn’t quite hear it. "What'dya say?" 

"The energy thing, part," she tried to find the right words but couldn't remember what Rocket had said. "It won't explode, it's not fun," she explained. Rocket had shown her a couple of his own guns and taught her what to look for if she ever needed to grab one in a hurry. 

At her words Yondu turned around and fired the gun, even though he already knew it was a trapper he just wanted to see the expression on her face after getting it right. 

"Boring," she sighed. 

"It was, wasn't it?" He looked back at Bryn to see that she was nodding. "You want to see a better one?" She nodded so vigorously Yondu smirked at her, the little beast seemed to be teaching her well. He grabbed a medium sized gun off the ground that had been advertised as being able to freeze victims so they could be captured easier. "Here." He handed it to her. 

"It's cold," she laughed trying to figure out where the low temperature was coming from. The weapon looked silly in her hands because the handle was so large she could only hand it if she used both of her small black fists. 

"Look," he said before grabbing it back from her and aiming. Something soared out of the gun and seemed to disappear until it struck the target and iced over. From where they were standing Bryn couldn't see it all that well, so even though she cheered softly there was a wide curious look in her eyes. 

"Can I go see?" She fidgeted with her hands. Instead of answering her Yondu simply motioned towards the target with his hand and watched as her face lit up brightly. It took her about a minute to get over to it, but then she was shouting back at him as if he hadn't been the one to do it. She returned to him with contained excitement, almost forgetting that she wasn't supposed to cause him trouble. 

If anything Yondu enjoyed having such an easy audience. Bryn was content to just follow him around, he didn’t even have to do anything to entertain her. 

After they returned to guns to the storage room Yondu figured he could make a couple calls and occupy the child with a puzzle he had picked up on their last job. Every time they walked past part of the crew some of the Ravagers would stare at Bryn with curious but hungry expression in their eyes. The same way some of them had stared at Peter when they had first picked him up. It was irritating and Yondu made sure to glance at them menacingly until they turned away and went back to their business. 

"Here," he said placing her in the seat next to him. The back was so tall and the seat so large her feet barely dangled off the edge. He then handed her a metal puzzle of some kind and watched her eyes light up at the challenge. "No talking." 

"I won't," she whispered and then clapped one of her hands on her mouth with a gasp. She looked nervous for a second and then directed her attention back to the metal object in her hands, her fingers trying to figure out how to get it open. 

The first call was quick and Yondu almost expected Bryn to make noise somehow. When he was younger, Peter had always been such a trouble maker, but Bryn seemed to know how to follow instructions at least. The only sound was Yondu talking, the alien on the other side responding, and small taps as Bryn tried to figure out what the heck she was supposed to do with the thing. A little while in to the second call the tapping stopped and Yondu figured she must have given up in favor of looking around the room curiously. 

"Not yet huh?" He questioned turning to look at her after the second call had ended.  

He had been expecting to see her staring angrily down at the puzzle, but instead saw that she had fallen asleep with the thing still clutched tightly in her hands. Instead of waking her up, like he'd initially wanted to do he went back to work, setting up more jobs that they could do within the week. Only when Bryn whimpered behind him did Yondu remember that there was a child sleeping in the room. 

"What is it now?" He almost growled at her while turning around. But she was still asleep. Her eyes clenched tightly together before she whimpered again and muttered a small but choked sounding, _please._  Her eyes snapped open suddenly and she was staring at Yondu with a terrified expression until she saw who was in front of her. At that point she drifted back to sleep, pulling the metal puzzle closer to herself. 

Somehow, seeing her having nightmares, made him agitated. Bryn had been almost nothing but a beam of cheerful light since she had arrived, eager to please and yet continuously curious towards everything around her. She handed him a rock for goodness sake, a rock which she claimed was the coolest thing ever. 

The fact that she wasn't with her parents, but with the guardians instead, said that her real parents had either died or given her up. Either way it was sure to have left a mark on her in some degree. Perhaps he'd ask Peter where exactly they'd picked her up in the first place, it'd give him some insight on how to further take care of her probably. 

While Yondu was subconsciously staring at the little alien a call ran through and revealed that it was Peter trying to get through. He answered the call and was immediately met with a somewhat grumpy looking Terran whose gaze flicked around the room before landing on Yondu. 

"So how was it boy?" Yondu questioned. 

"Where is she?" Peter ignored the man blatantly. The centaurian grinned mischievously before stepping aside to reveal a sleeping Bryn, who was still clutching the metal puzzle as if her life depended on it. 

"Guess she wore herself out," he explained stepping back into view and blocking her. Peter sighed in relief, glancing backwards to say something to the rest of his team before he turned towards Yondu again. 

"We'll be there soon to pick her up," he stated. "Your units will be transferred after we see that she is okay." 

"Don't you trust me Peter?" He asked faking a wounded voice. 

"Sometimes," he answered, talking to his team faintly again. "Twenty minutes," he said before shutting off the call. 

Almost reluctantly, Yondu roused Bryn was her slumber and tried to decipher the words that spilled out of her mouth while he set her back on her feet. She followed him out of his room sluggishly, running into Yondu's legs a couple times as she tried to rub the sleep out of her eyes. 

He took her back to her room in order to clean up and collect her things. The dark space made Bryn sober up a little and she quickly shoved her things back into her bag before grabbing the metal puzzle again and exiting the room. She didn't seem to like it very much, something Yondu thought he should keep in mind for next time. 

The thought stopped him short as he ushered Bryn out of the room. Already he was thinking about what they might do the next time he was stuck with her, wondering whether she would still be excited to follow him around all day. Pushing it from his mind Yondu walked faster so he was in front of the child, her small footsteps tapping behind him. 

As soon as she was gone he'd just go back to work anyway, as if she had never even been there in the first place. Everything would go back to normal. 


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bryn says goodbye to Yondu and the guardians are excited to have their kid back.

The first job without Bryn had been good, although something felt off. After always having to look out for the small alien child, just in case she decided to crash in in the name of helping, it had been a little lonely. It was quieter without Bryn running around the ship and causing trouble, although her version of trouble was collecting things they most certainly did not need on the Milano. For some reason she had a strange fascination with rocks and other obscure objects that most other people considered to be trash. 

 In fact, Gamora had even picked up an old, petrified piece of wood, knowing that Bryn would have loved to had found it on her own. It was only after she brought it back to the ship that Rocket reminded her of their missing child. 

By the end of the mission Rocket was a lot snappier than usual, usually Bryn would listen to him go on and on about what he was building and things he was excited to make. No one else wanted much to listen to him chatter for hours at a time, but Bryn was always excited to go into the engine room with him. Only now did they realize how much he needed it as much as she did, they distracted each other. 

During meals they didn't talk as much either, usually Bryn was the one to comment on what they were eating or to report her finding for that day. 

It was annoying to realize how attached they had gotten to such a small person. 

"I will give her the toy." Drax announced as the Milano docked into the Eclector. 

"Why do you get to do it?" Rocket complained throwing a glare at the alien. 

"We're all going to give it to her," Peter sighed. He was getting tired of trying to keep the peace, somehow, Bryn's presence had been enough to melt away any tension within the group. As long as she was doing okay, then everything was fine. 

"Do you think she'll like it?" Gamora questioned looking at Peter with a stern expression. 

"Considering how excited she always is to explore things I'm going to say yes," he muttered.  

They'd gotten her a device that was very similar to something Peter remembered back on Terra that was called a view-master. A goggle-like machine that showed slides/pictures of different planets and habitats in the galaxy, something they thought Bryn could spend a lot of time looking at. She could even wander around in the environment, as long as she had enough space in reality. 

What they were low key hoping, was that the toy would keep her occupied enough for them to continue taking job with her staying on the ship. Because the last couple days had been so boring and quiet without her,  Rocket mentioned that the thing might be enough to keep her at bay, and they were all willing to give it a try. 

As they docked at the Eclector Peter's mind started to run through different scenarios of how Bryn would look after spending time with the Ravagers. As far as they knew, according to her tracking device, she had been on board the whole time, though it didn’t comment on her condition. 

She could have been hurt and Yondu could have simply laughed at her plight. Or maybe they'd left her locked in a room the entire time, which meant that the guardians were getting back Bryn the way they had first picked her up. Quiet, shy, waking up in the middle of the night, and apologizing for absolutely everything. 

"I just hope she's still smiling," he sighed before going towards the door. 

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rocket gaped at him. When Peter offered no further explanation Rocket growled before following the Terran out into the Eclector where they hoped Bryn was waiting for them. 

The door opened and the guardians breathed a sigh of relief to see Bryn's face brighten cheerfully at the sight of them walking towards her. Peter was even slightly surprised to see that it was Yondu who was standing next to her, he had been expecting the man to send Kraglin to see them off. Upon seeing Peter's suspicious glance the Centaurian grinned as if he knew exactly what the Terran was thinking. 

"Trust me now, boy?" He said before Bryn said something unintelligible and started running at them. She was holding her bag in one hand and something metal in the other one, even with her arms flailing in excitement she didn’t seem keen to let them go. 

Drax moved to get in front and grabbed the girl under her arms before lifting her into the air, making the child laugh. 

"I missed you tiny one!" He said gruffly. "I did not think I was going to, but I did." 

"Why did you include that last part?" Rocket murmured under his breath. "Put her down, you idiot, before you smash her into something." 

"Did you get all the bad guys?" Bryn questioned letting Gamora take her bag from her.  

"Oh yeah," Rocket started off. 

While the others started off with their tale about work Peter walked over to Yondu as the captain watched the scene unfold warily. 

"She didn't put any dents in the ship did she?" Peter asked, imagining the girl getting lost and breaking down doors. But Yondu ignored his attempt at a joke. 

"Where did you pick this kid up? Where are her parents?" The alien turned fully to Peter now, waiting to hear the story of Bryn. 

"She doesn't have any," Peter said softly, he didn’t like talking about Bryn when she was so close. 

"Really?" Yondu's voice was laced with sarcasm. "I hadn't noticed." 

"Gamora found her locked up in a room when we were on a mission. And afterwards," he faltered. "No one came to claim her, so we took her." 

It made Yondu think of the room they had stuck her in. She probably wasn't able to sleep in a place that reminded her so much of where she had lived before and what she had experienced. The thought of Bryn sitting up in her room in the middle of the night stuck in Yondu's mind like a plague, but he tried to shrug it off. They were picking her up now, Bryn was no longer of any consequence to him, his bit was over. 

"Where are my units?" Was his grunted response. Peter almost wanted to laugh at his response, of course Yondu wouldn't care about such a story. Bryn was just a paycheck to him at the end of the day. 

"Already transferred them," Rocket said walking up behind them. "And we're hoping there won't be a next time." The guardians turned away from him then, and it was Peter's turn to look down at the child as she grabbed his pants with her tiny hand. For a moment Yondu was reminded of her at the back of his legs as she hid from Kraglin. Just as Yondu turned around to leave there came a small voice rushing up behind him. 

"Uncle Yondu," Bryn shouted as the man turned to see her below him. She was holding the metal puzzle up as high as she could, trying to put it into his hands but failing because of her height. "Thanks for playing with me!" He eyed her for a moment before taking the toy back from her. 

"Sure thing kiddo," he said in a bland voice. "Maybe next time I'll let you shoot a gun," he grinned. Bryn's eyes lit up at the possibility, even though Yondu had been joking, aiming to get a rise out of Peter. In reality, he was sure that he might perhaps not see the little girl again and didn't care if he was saying empty words. 

"Not," Peter said from behind them. "That's not happening." 

"Let us leave now tiny one," Drax said turning towards the Milano. 

"Okay!" Bryn jerked away from Yondu just as suddenly as she had run up. "Bye uncle Yondu," she glanced back at him with a wave. 

As soon as they were gone Yondu turned back towards the ship, wondering faintly if Bryn, in fact, was to fire a gun. Would the recoil be too strong? He laughed faintly at the image of the blaster going backwards and hitting the girl in the forehead, she'd probably cry at the force of it. But since it was something that he'd probably never see Yondu put it out of his mind and went back to work. 

.o.o. 

Needless to say, Bryn was very excited to know that Gamora had been thinking about her when she'd picked up the piece of petrified wood. The child told them all about Zeyka and how she followed Kraglin around for a while, and they in turn told her about what they had done during the job. 

They were sitting down for dinner when Bryn told them the tale about Yondu finding her in the vent and how he didn't take her back to her room. 

"Then he showed me some guns, and some of them exploded and it was cool," she cheered before looking at Rocket proudly. "But I remember what you said about the energy zone thing, and one of them wasn't cool, it didn’t blow up at all." 

"Really?" Rocket mused recalling all the days she'd listened to him with wide curious eyes. "I can show you some of my guns sometime, if you want?" He said making Peter shake his head next to them. The Terran was convinced that if they exposed Bryn to guns and weapons right now she'd try to use them on her own and hurt herself in the process. After all, he'd certainly done his fair share of accidental harm as a kid aboard the Eclector. 

"Uncle Yondu even let me play with his puzzle," she explained trying to show what it looked like with her hands. 

"Sounds," Peter eyed Gamora and Rocket. "Nice." 

For the most part Bryn was half of the time, a reliable source of information, and the other half of the time had no idea what was going on and said everything was either cool or uncool. When it came to people she wanted to like her everything was up to chance, for all they knew Yondu could have given her a toy and left her alone all day. 

"Who was your favorite person?" Peter asked trying to gauge who he would demand to take care of her if there was a next time. 

"All of them!" She said with a grin. 

"I should have been expecting that answer," he sighed. 

"Did anyone try to hurt you?" Gamora questioned sternly. 

"No, they were nice. Zeyka is really tall, taller than Drax," she tried to show the height difference with her hands. "He looked a little scary at first but he let me watch, and didn't care that I fell asleep," she beamed. 

"Can you introduce him to us next time?" She asked the child. 

"Yeah," Bryn said taking another bite of food. She'd been so excited to talk about her time with the Ravagers that they were having a hard time getting her to eat. 

"Did you sleep well?" Drax said staring at her from the other side of the table. He had been the first one to find out that Bryn had nightmares from what had happened to her and had been worried about her getting rest ever since. 

"Sometimes," she mumbled through a mouth full of food. 

"What does that mean?" The large alien questioned with a frown of concern on his face. 

"I couldn’t sleep because I missed you," she said apologetically. The guardians looked at each other nervously, they weren't used to the fact that they were needed by such a small person. "And it was cold." 

"We will give you another blanket next time," Drax responded filling in the silence. 

"We got you something," Rocket blurted out. He looked embarrassed and seemed to be blushing, though with the fur it was hard to tell. Bryn was still eating but sputtered something they couldn't understand and started to flail with excitement. 

Gamora put the wrapped box on the table and they watched Bryn carefully take off the paper, as if it was the gift instead of what was inside the container. She had no idea what it was initially, but after they explained it to her and let her put it on Bryn started to wander around the ship exploring the habitats immediately. Peter followed behind her, wanting to make sure she didn’t run into anything while the others watched from the table. 

She'd only been playing with it for a couple minutes when she stopped and started to sniffle softly. They didn’t know what was happening until tear tracks traveled down her face. 

"What did you do to her Quill?" Rocket complained getting off his chair. 

"Nothing," he said before taking the view-master of her face to see what was wrong. "What happened?" He asked kneeling down to her level. Instead of responding immediately Bryn leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his chest, which stopped him short. What was he supposed to do at this point. 

"I missed you," she whimpered. "Missed my family." 

Peter turned around and looked at the rest of them in panic, this wasn't supposed to happen. 

"Did we do something to make you sad?" Peter said patting her head. She shook her head against his shirt and sniffled again. "So are these happy tears?" She nodded. 

Bryn hadn't had a family since her mother died. Even though her father had claimed custody of her in her mother's absence there was never a feeling of love and need that Bryn remembered on Terra. She'd promised her mom to always smile and stay happy, to bounce back, and she'd done it all by herself because no one else had wanted her. 

But she wasn't alone anymore. 

"We missed you too," Drax said getting down to her level as well. Gamora realized it before anyone else and whispered to Rocket why she thought Bryn was crying. Because a child needed a family, or someone to ask her if she'd had a good day, and after so long, Bryn had one again.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Medicine does not taste good.

After leaving her happy tears behind Bryn spent the next couple weeks wandering around in her virtual world and running into the walls in the Milano so much that they got her a helmet to put on while she was using it. She started to memorize certain placed within the different planets and would often take the rest of the guardians to that place by leading them around the ship. It also ignited Bryn's imagination, more so than her love for rocks, and started to tell stories about each place she had walked around. 

So far, their favorite was about a man who crash landed on a planet where everything was buried in snow, and his main goal in life was to find his shoes. For he had lost them, and was walking around bare foot. She was giving them updates every so often, and thus far the man had found many things. None of which were his shoes, though Bryn did seem very sad for him every time she announced his findings, or lack thereof.  

Peter and Rocket had silently decided that they didn't need to leave Bryn with Yondu again for a while, not when she had cried because she was happy that they liked her enough to get her something. As a group they tried to talk about what had happened after she'd gone to sleep the first night they had her back. But all that happened was them speculating whether or not they could keep track of her in the ship, that perhaps she would be okay staying behind as long as she had her view-master to play with. 

She'd probably be fine, especially if they kept picking up new planets for her to explore whenever they stopped at another planet or colony. 

This plan worked really well for about a month, which shouldn't have surprised them, considering how well such a plan had worked last time. Though Bryn was now sporting a bruise on her arm from getting thrown down by a thug they pushed on stubbornly. As long as Bryn was happy being with them, even if seeing her hurt and wounded made them sick with worry, they refused to dump her on Yondu again. They could handle it. 

.o.o. 

Or so they told themselves until they were docking at the Eclector after not laying eyes on it for a month. 

"Hi uncle Yondu," Bryn cheered at the blue alien. He glanced at her with a grin on his face before glaring at the guardians in front of him. Bryn had a day old black eye, not that she seemed to mind, and a small bandage wrapped around her left hand. 

"What happened to your face?" He questioned as the child ran up to him. 

"I met a bad man, I thought I could take him because I kicked the last guy out of the way but," she faltered disappointment on her face. "He hit me, he was big so I figured he'd be slow. He wasn't." 

"Where was everyone else?" He said staring past the girl at her guilty adults. 

"They were stealing the thing, the super-secret thing," she whispered the last part. "I just wanted to help, but I got in the way instead." She explained. "Rocket got mad at me," she said under her breath. As if she was afraid those behind her would hear it. 

"Shouldn't be as long this time," Peter said walking up behind her. "Just about two days." 

"Uh huh," Yondu muttered looking at the reproachful expressions of the rest of them. Apparently they weren't happy about leaving Bryn with him again, if the time it took for them to contact him was any indication. 

In the past month since they had left Yondu and the Ravagers alone, the Centaurian found himself looking at things he thought the little alien child would like, much to his bitterness. He'd only really been with the girl for one day and already he was picking up rocks when they went for a deal and stuffing them in his pockets. Though he had seen Kraglin doing the same thing. 

For the first week after Bryn was gone he saw his first mate glancing behind himself every so often to see if she was still following him around.  Then he would frown and growl about something before stalking off. Convinced that he thought of the girl as a burden and annoying Kraglin had not been expecting to think about her every so often. 

"Same rules, make sure she sleeps at night, because last time she didn't," Rocket said after Drax bugged him about it. 

"She has a device that usually occupies her for a while, as long as she has enough space to walk around," Gamora put in staring at the Ravager. Yondu grunted in response before reaching for Bryn's bag and holding it over his shoulder. 

The guardians looked more distraught than they had last time, which probably meant that something had happened that was making them worry more. Not that they had to worry, because this time Yondu was going to be the one looking after her instead of Kraglin, mostly because the first mate was busy. But also because Yondu wasn't about to let Bryn be forgotten in her room again, not after finding out how they had found her in the first place. 

Something strong was surging within him, it was a feeling he hadn't felt since they'd first decided to keep Peter. Only when he'd seen Bryn's black eye and bandaged hand did it clench tightly inside of him again. It'd probably happened because they didn't want to call him again, meaning they'd been selfish about wanting to keep her with them instead of deciding what was best for her safety. Yondu would be lying to say he wasn't irritated by their decision. 

"I'll take care of her," he surprised himself with a bitter tone. Not that they noticed, it sounded very much like his normal voice. 

After saying goodbye to Bryn, who promised she wouldn't cause any trouble, the guardians left sluggishly, unsure about their decision again. When they'd finally gone Yondu looked down at Bryn with a grimace, hadn't they done anything for her black eye? 

"Let's go see Zeyka," he said turning before he could see Bryn light up. 

"Yeah," she agreed following behind him. The sound of her familiar small footsteps almost made him smile. A couple Ravagers gave them a second glance, while the others remembered the child and ignored her instead of calling out, though it might've had something to do with Yondu staring down anyone who looked over.  

Zeyka saw the captain first before Bryn rushed in front with a grin. 

"Zeyka!" She stopped  at his legs. The medic had been sitting down at his desk, which was near the door to the med bay, and working on a vaccine for some poison one of the men had encountered earlier that week. 

At first all that registered was her presence and immediately afterwards his focus was on her injuries, the bruising around her eye. It was mostly dark purple with faint traces of maroon that stood out starkly on her white-grey skin.  

"When did this happen?" The orange alien questioned. He'd jerked over to inspect Bryn's face quickly, his long fingers inspecting the skin as if the child was made of glass. 

"Yesterday," Bryn said confused by what he was doing. When he pushed too firmly for a second she reached up to push his arm away and then Zeyka saw the bandage and took her wrist gingerly between his fingers. 

"Did you fall down?" He asked glancing at Yondu to see that the captain was leaning casually against the door. 

"No, a bad guy hit me," she explained as his expression hardened. "But I got him back." Behind her Yondu looked surprised, apparently he hadn't heard that part of the story. "I hurt my hand because the window was broken," Bryn mumbled looking at the white bandages. 

"Did they clean it for you?" Zeyka asked while picking the girl up and placing her on a bed. 

"I dunno," she shrugged. "But I didn’t cry," she sounded proud this time. 

"How brave of you," she beamed at his praise. He then started to unwrap her hand while she began to fidget, Bryn may be okay with getting hurt, but he certainly wasn't alright knowing that it could get infected and he hadn't done anything. 

"Anything you can do?" Yondu questioned from behind him. 

"Unfortunately she seems to bruise like a Terran, so if we go by their healing standards it'll take a week or two to heal," he explained making the captain growl. "But I can give her something that'll speed it up." 

"Good," the Centaurian grunted. 

"Your hand looks okay, but I'm going to disinfect it anyway," he said getting something from a drawer. "It's going to sting." Bryn nodded without saying anything, and Zeyka could tell that she was preparing for the worst. 

The cut went across the whole of her small palm and was just starting to scab over. He worked quickly, knowing that if he took too long Bryn would be in pain longer, and probably get agitated. To keep her occupied while they worked Zeyka asked her about what she'd done sine they'd last been with each other. She was more than excited to tell them about the man on the snow planet with no shoes, and that he'd been searching for so long but so far hadn’t a clue where they might be hiding. 

It sounded like a bunch of nonsense, but she was so engrossed in the story that she only whimpered a little when he started to wash her cut. Zeyka ruffled her hair and said she'd done well after he finished wrapping it back up again, Yondu also seemed content with the care he had provided. 

"Also, drink this," he handed her a small cup of liquid. It would help her to heal a lot faster than normal, but it tasted awful. The orange alien wondered what kind of face the child would make after consuming it. 

"Is it yummy?" She questioned making Zeyka grimace while she downed it.  

Immediately her face scrunched up in disgust, though she was able to get it all down, Bryn gagged and sputtered at the taste that stuck to her tongue. Behind him Yondu chuckled at her expression while Zeyka held in a smile of his own. 

"Was it good?" Yondu mused. 

"N-no, eew," Bryn said licking her hand in order to get the taste out of her mouth. "It's nasty," she groaned throwing her head back. 

"Do you want to get something to eat to get rid of the taste?" The captain asked still clearly amused. Bryn nodded, her eyes clenched together tightly as she pushed herself off the bed and handed Zeyka the empty cup. She said goodbye to her tall orange friend by hugging his legs with a revolted frown on her face before she was following Yondu out the door.  

On the way to the cafeteria they passed Kraglin who took a double glance at Bryn's bruised face and sad frown, he didn't have time to say anything as the girl seemed preoccupied with following Yondu. But to say he was suspicious would be an understatement, he'd have to see what had happened later. Chances were he was going to end up with the child anyway, like he had last time, and then he could ask her. There was no question of whether or not she would divulge the information, Bryn had talked to him, or tried to, almost the entire time she was there. 

He'd felt a little guilty about how he'd left her a month before. Under his care she didn't get any sleep, nor did she eat very much food, and he'd simply watched her deteriorate right in front of him. Yet she never stopped smiling at him, until she started passing out anyway. This time he would do better, especially because he didn’t want Yondu yelling at him again. It'd happened after the guardians had picked her up, the captain had come asking if he left her alone in the room a lot. When he'd chuckled and said yes the Centaurian had seemed to harden his gaze in front of him before telling him to leave. 

It'd been a rough couple days after that, although ultimately Yondu had returned to normal after they figured Bryn wouldn't be coming back anyway. He'd have to ask why the captain had gotten so mad about the child, it might be easier now that she was there again. 

"How does that taste?" Yondu asked after handing Bryn a sweet from the kitchen. Bryn sighed softly around the mouthful, the awful taste of medicine was being covered by a sugary candy. "Good?" She nodded vigorously.  

"Fank you," she gargled trying not to spit. 

"Uh huh," he sat down and watched her glance around. Yondu was still slightly bitter about the fact that the guardians had just let Bryn run around all the time, it was nice of them to give her freedom. But sometimes they needed to crack down on her, or she would continue doing it over and over again until she really got hurt. 

Maybe that'd be where he came in, but that still depended on how much she disobeyed without realizing it. Boundaries kept her safe, yet, he didn’t want her to hate him. 

Also, when did he start caring so much?


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Uncle Kraglin is the best!

After Bryn was finished eating her sweet Yondu had her follow him towards her new room, which happened to be just down the hall from his and Kraglin's. Last time the first mate had more or less ignored Bryn at night, but that wasn't going to happen this time around. He'd been instructed to open his door if the child had any nightmares and let her into his room if it helped her get back to sleep. The Xandarian had tried to argue for a second before he was reminded of the state Bryn was in when she'd left last time and whose fault it was. 

"If you wake up in the middle of the night and you can't sleep, go bother Kraglin. He said he'll gladly stay up with you," Yondu explained. 

"He won't shoo me away?" She questioned looking thoughtful. 

"No, he told me how happy he was to be depended on," the captain said. Bryn nodded happily before walking into her new room. Since these rooms were nearest to the captains rooms they were a lot nicer than where she had been before. There was a small window on the side of the ship that looked out into space while the other side had a nice big bed, and opposite of that was a desk that had some loose paper on it. 

"That's as big as Drax's bed," she exclaimed before running over to it. "It's so soft," she said before smashing her face into the sheets. 

Yondu then went on to tell her that he had work to do today, but tomorrow he had a surprise for her, as long as she was good and didn’t cause trouble. Bryn, of course, agreed immediately to staying out of his way, and said that as long as he was in the room with her, she could explore her planets all day long. Every once in a while she'd virtually fall into a hole and freak herself out, and it usually helped if there was someone else in the room to assure her that it hadn't actually happened. 

That led to Bryn following Yondu around most of the day with her view-master around her neck while they were going from room to room. A couple times she stopped to look at something, but would quickly run after Yondu when he turned around to stare at her. The Centaurian was now used to hearing her footsteps behind him, and knew that when they stopped it meant that she was about to wonder off herself. 

"We're going to be in here a while, you can play now," he said going towards his desk. 

"Yes," she hissed putting it on immediately. 

He watched her curiously for a few minutes, wondering faintly what she might be looking at, and what she found so amusing about a world that wasn't even there. It was quiet for a while, except for Bryn's footsteps as she walked around the room exploring whatever planet she had put into the slot. Then there was a clanging noise and Yondu turned around to see that she had run into the wall and fallen to the ground. Yet, without a word, Bryn lifted the view-master up, put her hand on the wall, took a few steps back while putting it back on, and then going in a different direction. Apparently this had happened before. 

It had been a little while since she run into the wall when it happened again. 

"Oops," Bryn mumbled pulling off the goggles again. This time Yondu hadn't turned around, mostly because he already knew what had happened, but also for the wide grin that crossed his features after hearing her small voice. He'd have to find a bigger room to work in next time. 

It went on like that for a while longer, and then it was time for dinner. Bryn was more than delighted to see Kraglin, and Zeyka sit down next to them with full trays. 

"If you could live on any planet, which one would it be?" She chirped catching them off guard. They were the same questions that she often asked of the Guardians. Usually Drax would answer with something boring, like his home planet, and Rocket would counter it with something else. It usually ended with one or more of them arguing with the others, while Peter tried to calm them down only to have a dull answer as well. It made eating more exciting. 

"We could technically live on any planet anyway," Kraglin tried to answer before Zeyka stared him down. The first mate still wasn't used to talking to children, not that Bryn minded. Drax was much worse anyway. 

"It'd have to be somewhere exciting," Yondu started. "I wouldn't want to get bored." 

"Oh yeah," Bryn exclaimed. "That would suck." Her comment made the captain guffaw, he hadn't heard her say something that like before. "What's that?" She questioned looking at something on Kraglin's plate. 

"Not for kids," he said thinking of how she would react to it. The food was more of an acquired taste that he'd gotten used to over time, something he was sure Bryn wouldn't like in the slightest. 

"Can I try it?" She looked up at him curiously. Had she really not heard what he just said? 

"Bryn, it's not very-," Zeyka tried to tell her she wouldn't like it but the captain interrupted. 

"Go ahead, but only if you think you can handle it," Yondu said with a smirk on his face. He was already imagining the face that she had made after taking her medicine, just the thought of it made him want to laugh again. Messing with kids was fun. 

"I can," she said taking the small piece Kraglin offered her. 

At first it appeared to not bother her, but her eyes dropped after a moment and she tried not to frown too much as it sat on her tongue. Her lips squeezed together as the sour bitterness encased the inside of her mouth, and she made a soft unpleasant whimper.  

In front of her Yondu was looking quite pleased with himself while Kraglin was doing his best to suppress laughter. Although Zeyka was frowning at the both of them he couldn't help but think that Bryn's disgusted face was one of the best things he'd seen in a while. 

"Is it good," Yondu said with a chuckle. Bryn did her best to nod, although it was very clear that she wanted nothing more than to spit it out. 

"You can tell the truth Bryn, we won't mind," Zeyka said patting her on the head. She shook her head vigorously after that and spit the piece of food back onto her tray. 

"It's nasty," she groaned trying to wipe the rest of it off her tongue. A quick laugh escaped Kraglin before any of them spoke again. 

"Are you going to ask about other people's food again?" Yondu questioned. Maybe he could get some kind of lesson out of this. Bryn shook her head, making him grin again, he'd forgotten how easy it was to get kids to do things sometimes. 

Dinner passed quickly after that, and Bryn got to see Yondu test a few more guns before it was time for bed, at least for Bryn anyway. The captain bid her goodnight and reminded her that Kraglin was available should she need him. 

Although Bryn was sure that she would be able to sleep by herself this time. In fact she was determined to keep her mind on happy thoughts, like remembering the times when Drax would carry her to bed when she fell asleep at the table. Or when Rocket started to talk happily about a new gun he was going to make. Thoughts that made her smile were ones that she was always excited to fall asleep to. 

.o.o. 

"Uncle Kwaglin," a small whispered voice woke the first mate. He opened his eyes blearily to see Bryn in front of him, holding blanket in her small black hands. The Xandarian almost growled at her until he remembered how insistent Yondu had been about making sure that she was able to sleep at night. 

"What?" He grunted making Bryn shrink at the tone. "Did you have a bad dream?" He questioned sitting up in his bed. She nodded in front of him while glancing nervously around the room. She'd been standing just outside his room for a few minutes before hearing a noise in the ship and scaring herself inside. 

"He was chasing me," she whispered as if whoever was chasing her was still close. 

"Who was chasing you?" He turned the light on a dim setting and saw that she was shaking. 

"The gatherer," she mumbled. Kraglin had never heard of such a person, but the galaxy was a big place so it wasn't a surprise. "I tried to help the other kids, but he found me," she said recalling the dream. "Are you going to send me away?" 

"Come here," Kraglin yawned motioning towards the bed. The first mate moved over so Bryn could climb on the bed next to him and sit down. At this point he didn’t care if he had to share the bed with a child in order to get back to sleep, as long as they were both resting, it didn’t matter to him. Plus, he'd be doing his job just as Yondu had asked of him. "Who is the gatherer?" 

"He took me from my dad," she explained looking down at the blanket in her hands. "Killed my dad," the last part was whispered so softly Kraglin wasn't sure she said it at all. 

"Do you miss your dad?" He asked finally getting the girl to look at him. 

"Sometimes," she faltered. "But he only took me because mommy died." 

 It was the most Kraglin had seen Bryn talk without smiling, or making some silly expression. This was probably how Bryn had first been after the guardians had picked her up. A fact that made the first mate respect them a little more, Bryn was such a happy child, a stark difference from how she was at the moment. 

"You know the gatherer ins't coming for you right?" Kraglin questioned of her. Bryn looked away from him then in favor of staring at the door. 

"But-," she started to say but Kraglin cut her off. 

"He'd have to go through Peter and the rest of the guardians," he explained. She looked back at him with wide surprised eyes. 

"What if they got hurt?" She gasped softly. At this point Kraglin was tired of talking to her, although he was even more curious about her past having heard about her nightmare and father. But mostly he just wanted to get back to sleep and this seemed to be helping so far, might as well continue it. 

"Then he'd have to go through me," he said spreading the blanket over her. 

"Really?" She looked at him in awe. 

"Mhm." 

"Awesome," she breathed looking drowzy. "Uncle Kwaglin is the best." 

Her inability to say his name correctly had been annoying at first, but now her failed attempt made him smile. Somehow, it was a nice feeling, to be needed by someone, especially if the someone was a pint sized alien that smiled brightest when she was with a person she liked. 

"Uncle Kraglin _is_ the best," he said as she drifted off to sleep. 

.o.o. 

The next morning Yondu opened the door to Bryn's empty room and, for about a second, wondered frantically who might have broken into her room and taken her. Then went towards Kraglin's room to see that his first mate had passed out sitting up against the wall on his bed while the little alien lay next to him. 

The captain promised himself that he'd mock the first mate later about  how much Kraglin had insistent that the child would only get in the way. In fact, after a couple weeks of Bryn being gone he'd even mentioned something about ditching the girl on a planet and getting rid of her tracker. As if he was trying to get the other crew members to believe that he hadn't minded having the child around. 

There was also a very small part of Yondu that was angry at Kraglin for being the one next to Bryn. But it was a tiny, minuscule emotion that he was sure to have imagined. 


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything Yondu gets is cool.

"Can uncle Kwaglin come?" Bryn questioned making Yondu look at the first mate blandly. How had he, all of a sudden, become the girls most favorite person on the ship? 

"Yes," the captain said. He was going to make Kraglin come anyway, because he would need someone to watch Bryn while he talked to one of his buyers. But now that the little alien looked so happy by the Xandarian's presence it made him want to leave Kraglin behind. "If you behave I'll even get you something." 

"Really?" Her eyes jerked over to Yondu all at once, shinning wide with admiration. Kraglin rolled his eyes at the sight, somehow it felt like the captain didn't like how easily he had gotten back on Bryn's good side. The Centaurian made it look like he had bribed her into it. 

In reality Kraglin had no idea why Bryn was suddenly so cheerful towards him. All he'd done differently was let her into his room and made sure that she'd fallen asleep before he had, talked to her a little bit and then she was out. Which either meant that no one talked to her like he had at night before, or children were a lot easier to please than he ever thought them to be. 

That morning when he'd woken up Bryn was gone back to her own room, and it was like the night before had never happened, which was fine by him. As long as he got sleep along with her, she could come bother him every night, now if she started to keep him from sleep. That would be another story. 

During breakfast Bryn was eating happily enough, but as soon as it was over and Yondu and him were planning on telling Bryn what they were doing that day, she was walking behind his legs. Then, when they stopped, she grabbed onto his pants lightly, beaming up at him as if he had said something worthwhile. Kraglin didn't quite understand what was happening, but didn't mind it too much either, it was just strange. Then again, Bryn loved rocks, which was pretty weird all by itself. 

Yondu, at this point, explained to Bryn that he needed to meet with a buyer on Xandar, and that she could come with them as long as she didn’t wander off. If she did wander off and get lost, they'd leave her alone on the ship the next time they needed to go somewhere. 

"Will it be cool?" Bryn asked moving over towards him. 

"Everything I get is cool," Yondu muttered grinning. 

"True," Bryn muttered looking thoughtful. Kraglin and Yondu glanced at each other for a moment, wondering how the girl could possibly know after being with them for only a couple days. 

Usually when the guardians traveled they kept Bryn near the back of the helm, so she was still involved with what was going on, but couldn't continually freak out about what was happening. This was something Yondu and Kraglin would come to realize after the girl had asked them questions the entire time. 

"Why do you have all those?" She questioned looking at Yondu center console. 

"I like to collect them," he explained.  

Since his last ship had gotten hit and crashed he'd lost most of them except for the frog, which was now accompanied by the troll Peter had given him instead of the infinity stone. Most recently to join its ranks was the rock that Bryn had assured him was super cool, his main excuse, if someone asked, was because he'd gotten tired of carrying it around. 

"Is that my rock?" She gasped trying to lean over her seat and look at it. 

"Isn't it my rock now?" Yondu questioned making Bryn giggle. 

"Yeah," she grinned happily. Proud that something she'd given him was sitting out in the open for all to see. "I have a lot more at home if you want another one," she said. "Do you want one, uncle Kwaglin?" 

"Will it be cooler than his?" The first mate questioned getting a glare from the captain. 

"Maybe, I'll have to see what I have," she muttered, her thoughts already going back to her large collection. 

When she'd first started it Drax and Gamora had no idea why they kept getting so many rocks on board, and couldn't quite come to realize that Bryn was the one bringing them on because she liked them. It was a strange thing for a kid that wasn't on Terra anymore to like, and even if she had when she was a child. That meant she was collecting them from a young age, her mom must have liked it for being so cheap to entertain the child. 

Since Bryn explained to the guardians that it was her bringing them on Peter had gotten her a big chest that she was now putting them in whenever she took a fancy. Every once in a while Rocket would peer inside to see that it looked exactly the same as it had the time before. Most of the rocks looked the similar, though her most favorite ones, which were different colored, were always hidden in the bottom of the box. She explained that is she were to expose them to light they'd get shy and change their color, and she liked them the way they were. 

Another thing Peter had discovered was that you should never ask Bryn which stone was her favorite, because she didn't have one. Instead of actually trying to decide she'd go on a thirty minute rampage, picking up each one and going into great description about it's points and curves and why they were so cool.  

For the rest of the ride Bryn asked more random questions until Yondu proposed they play the quiet game. The child was excited to be playing a game and determined to win, even though she had so much to say about where they were going and how awesome it looked outside she kept her mouth shut. At one point Kraglin and Yondu looked back at her to see that she was frowning sternly, opening her mouth a couple times. Then remembering what the captain had said and slapping her hands over her mouth and narrowing her eyes. 

She almost made it to Xandar, but lost it when she saw where they were going to land. Yondu chided her at first but after seeing the disappointed look on her face figured she's was giving herself a hard enough time as it was. 

On the way to the buyers building Kraglin walked behind Bryn so as to make sure that the girl wasn't going to wander off without him knowing about it. Which happened about every three minutes. She'd see something she liked and move towards it like a magnet before he'd tug the back of her shirt and redirect her.  How any one person could contain so much excitement just while they were walking around a marketplace was a mystery to the first mate. 

"Didn't know you were picking up kids again," the Krylorian woman behind the counter leered. Bryn met her gaze for a second before deciding that this was a person she did not need to know and moving to hide behind Yondu's legs. The alien's name was Cheth, and though the front of her shop appeared to house bits of silver and shimmering jewelry the back area was where she housed several other types of items. 

"She's one of us," Kraglin muttered. Seeing the pink lady staring down at Bryn with a grin on her face made the Xandarian feel defensive of the child. In the past when they'd taken things to Cheth, curious things, she'd leered at them in much the same way. 

"Oh, a baby Ravager huh?" She mused with a laugh. This time it was Yondu who looked at her blandly, not at all ready to talk about who Bryn was, because it was none of the woman's business. Next time he wouldn't bring Bryn, she attracted too much attention when she was with them. "How cute." 

"Do you want the item or not?" Yondu grunted dropping a bag on the counter. 

"Always right to the point with you, isn't it?" She smirked trying to get a rise out of them. "Alright then," she sighed, bored with the interaction already. 

"I didn’t like her," Bryn said as they walked outside. 

"Why not?" Yondu barked out a laugh. 

"She called me a baby," the child bristled. "I'm not a baby." 

"How old are you again?" Kraglin questioned making Bryn jerk her gaze towards him suddenly. 

"Seven, maybe almost eight," she said holding up her fingers. 

"Sounds like a baby to me," Yondu muttered. He then leaned down to ruffle her hair so wildly that by the time he stopped she couldn't see through the mess. 

"Stoppit," she complained smashing into Kraglin's legs as the Ravagers chuckled with each other.  

They stopped at one more shop, where Yondu bought a tiny alien creature figurine, before heading back to the ship. Bryn pouted for a little while after they'd called her a baby, but gave up after figuring out that being upset was boring. 

At one point, while Yondu had paused to let a crowd of people pass by them, there was a small stall just in front of a store selling clothes that caught Bryn's eyes. She'd had the immediate urge to run straight to it, but thought of what Yondu said about her being good and not getting lost, so instead she grabbed at Kraglin's pants. 

"What?" The first mate asked after feeling her small tug. 

Bryn didn't answer at first because she finally saw one of the things that the man was selling and somehow couldn't get the words out of her mouth. The shopkeeper was holding a thin piece of rock that was a deep purple color near the outside that faded into a lighter lavender and then changed to white near the middle. There was something familiar about it, but Bryn couldn't quite place the memory in her head. 

Kraglin followed her gaze and wanted to laugh, she was looking at rocks again. He'd half expected it to be some expensive toy, or something flashy, but since it was Bryn he should've guessed that it was a stone. 

"You want to go look at that don't you?" He said motioning towards the stall. 

"Yeah," she said in a soft voice. Bryn was still so caught up in where she might know the rock from she wasn't much listening to anything else now. Kraglin called out to Yondu and got the man to turn around in time to see Bryn staring hard at the rocks, still intent on figuring out why they were so familiar.  

"Come on," Yondu muttered moving towards it. Initially he was going to give buy Bryn some sweets from a shop near the ship, but after seeing her gaze of wonder and determination towards the rocks. A piece of candy seemed to pale in comparison to the way she might react to a colorful stone. 

She looked up at Kraglin with wide curious eyes before he shooed her off in the direction that the captain had gone. He was looking at all the rocks blandly, until he saw that the little alien was walking towards him. 

"Which one do you like?" The shopkeeper addressed her first. Bryn did her best not to shrink under his gaze. Up close, there were all kinds of different gemstones and shining clear rocks on necklaces and rings, they glittered brightly in the light and gave off a reflection. But she wasn't looking for those ones. 

"Where is the purple one?" She asked quietly. Yondu had been half expecting Bryn to go after the most expensive thing in the case, and wasn't looking forward to telling her no, but her eyes had barely lingered on the ones with the biggest price point. 

"You mean these?" The man picked up a small box of rocks that had been on the counter. It was a clear container full of a bunch of flat, thin rocks, of all different colors that Bryn had seen the man holding up before. "Those are pieces of Agate from Terra, really easy to come by." He explained. 

"Is that the one you want Bryn?" Kraglin asked looking down at her. She'd already pulled out the purple one and was holding it up to the light so she could look through it. 

"So cool," she whispered making Yondu grin at her soft voice. 

"How much is it?" 

The Agate turned out to be the cheapest thing on the cart, and only cost them 1 credit. He'd even offered to buy a couple more for the girl but she said she already had the best one and didn't need anymore. Bryn was still looking at it when they strapped her back into the ship and started back towards the Eclector. She'd even had both Kraglin and Yondu look through it countless times to prove to them how awesome it was, and had only stopped saying thank when the captain told her he'd take it back if she said it one more time. 

The only thing bothering her now was that she still couldn't remember where she knew the rock from.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kraglin does some research.

During dinner Bryn was very excited to show Zeyka her new rock, boasting about who got it for her and how cool he was for doing it. The orange alien reacted accordingly, and seemed very impressed for a moment before getting eye level with the girls face in order to inspect her black eye. Thanks to the disgusting medicine he had given her the worst of the bruising had already disappeared, he could see it being completely healed after another day. Yondu had also been watching it heal over the course of the last day, wondering how the cut on her hand was faring whenever she would grab onto his pants or reach for something. 

"Then we saw a pink lady, but she wasn't very nice," she explained. 

"Really?" Zeyka said in a mock surprised voice.  

"You just didn't like her because she called you a baby," Yondu grinned gaining a glare from Bryn. 

"That's not true," she defended. 

"Yeah it is," Kraglin muttered through a mouthful of food. 

"I know," Bryn mumbled sounding defeated. The adults looked at each other with faint smiles on their faces at how disappointed she seemed. 

"I bet she was jealous," Zeyka said. Bryn turned to him suddenly with a curious look on her face, Yondu and Kraglin's expressions were much of the same. 

"Why?" She asked. 

"Because you have such cool uncles that you're friends with," he explained watching her face light up with joy. 

"I do," she cheered. The captain and first mate glanced at each other impressed, after a couple days with the girl Yondu thought he had a good handle on how to deal with her, but he was nothing compared to the doctor. 

"Her friends must be boring," the orange alien went further. 

"Probably," Bryn agreed nodding her head. 

When they'd finished eating Bryn followed Yondu back into his office with her view-master, her new mission was to search the planets she had for the new rock she'd gotten. Hoping that she'd remember why it was so familiar to her somewhere along the way, if that could happen anyway. 

The first call Yondu received was one from Peter, who told the Centaurian that they'd be there just after breakfast to pick Bryn up. Half-way through the call there was a clanging sound from Yondu's side of the call that made Peter laugh, he was quite familiar with the sound of Bryn running into the wall by now. 

By bedtime she was feeling a little more than frustrated with the fact that she hadn't been able to find it on any of the planets she had. Which wasn't surprising considering she only had about twelve locations out of the thousands that had been created for the toy. Maybe if she was good, she could ask Peter and Gamora to get her some new ones the next time they went shopping for food. 

Bryn couldn't quite take her mind off the rock, but pushed it out of her thoughts as she burrowed more into the blankets and tried to imagine herself back on the Milano. Her mind whirled back to the previous night when Kraglin had said he would protect her and she smiled faintly before drifting off to sleep. 

.o.o. 

This time Kraglin roused awake at the sound of his door opening and had just opened his eyes when Bryn opened her mouth to speak. She faltered at the sight of him looking at her and looked at the ground ashamed, she'd tried to sleep alone, but when she woke up and he wasn't there. She dreamed about the gatherer again, the darkness and emptiness in her room a constant reminder of how long she'd been left by herself. 

"Did you have another bad dream?" He asked with a groan. His voice was a little rough sounding since he'd just woken up and hadn't cleared his throat yet. Bryn simply nodded in front of him, she was holding the same blanket as she had been the night before. "Wanna talk about it?" 

"No," she whispered shaking her head at the same time. Like the night before Bryn was shaking as her bottom lip quivered and her teal-grey eyes were wide with fear. 

"It was a scary dream, wasn't it?" Kraglin muttered. He moved back towards the top of his bed so that his head was propped up enough to look down at her trembling form. 

She nodded in front of him, and he watched as her small hands gripped the blanket as if someone was trying to pull it away from her. 

"Can I sleep here again?" She mumbled looking away from him. Kraglin answered her by moving over and patting the spot where he had been sleeping. She moved towards him slowly, climbing into the bed while clutching the blanket gave her a little trouble so the first mate helped her settle under the covers. 

"Do you remember what I told you last night?" He said through a yawn. Another nod. "Keep it in mind and go to sleep." 

In a couple minutes they were both back to sleep, Kraglin faintly wondering what could have happened to Bryn with the gatherer to make her so afraid of being alone, and Bryn imagining the first mate digging through the snow covered planet with her. She was sure, that if he was helping, they'd find the man's shoes in no time. 

Sometime in the early morning Bryn started to squirm, the action and slight movement of the bed dragged Kraglin out of his slumber to witness her nervous movement. Her eyes clenched tightly in front of him as she whimpered and mumbled something he couldn't quite understand. Then in a single movement Bryn jerked backwards, almost falling off the bed, and opened her eyes at the same time with a small gasp. 

Kraglin was watching her quietly as if he was still asleep, his eyes open just enough to see her, but not enough that she could see him staring back at her. She grabbed at her blanket frantically, clutching it to herself she was about to cover her face with it when her eyes landed on him in front of her. 

 The frightened look in her eyes softened, and her quick gasping breaths calmed down. Bryn settled back into the covers as her eyes began to get droopy again before they closed completely as she fell asleep. Kraglin opened his eyes a little more to look at her before moving to sit up in bed, suddenly bitter with himself all over again for leaving her alone the first time she had been there. He could see her sitting in the room all alone, shaking in her sheets unable to get back to sleep by herself.  

He'd heard a little bit from Yondu about where the guardians had picked her up, knew a small fraction of what had happened to her, but it wasn't enough. He'd have to do his own research in order to know what happened to the child. 

.o.o. 

At breakfast the next morning Yondu met Kraglin and Bryn at the table, where Zeyka was already waiting for them. The Xandarian looked tired with bags under his eyes and an exhausted expression on his face, on the other hand, Bryn continued to smile up at the first mate who offered a small smile in return.  

Zeyka had traced his fingers softly over her bruise free face with a satisfied smile before he started to unwrap the bandages from her hand. She fidgeted a little bit, but was ultimately happy to have her hand back after the orange alien saw that her cut had healed as well. Hopefully he wouldn't have to do this with her again. 

Bryn was more than excited to talk about the man on the snowy planet again. Apparently, after her adventure through her view master the day before, he had now found a robot, which was super cool, who was wearing socks. Which made the man somewhat excited because it mean that he should be getting closer to his shoes, but he was wrong. The next thing he found was a flower. 

"Where do you think his shoes are?" Zeyka questioned. Bryn looked thoughtful for a moment before she started to laugh. 

"What?" Yondu muttered almost laughing along with her. 

"Maybe they burned up in the crash," she giggled. Kraglin grinned at her answer before taking a bite of food, the things she found funny were always so silly. 

"He's never going to find them is her?" The doctor mused. 

"I don't know," she said. "He could find someone else's shoes." 

"What if they're too small for him?" Yondu questioned making her gasp. 

"That would suck," she exclaimed. The first make chuckled lightly at this, shaking his head and muttering something to himself. 

After Bryn had gone back to sleep following her second nightmare Kraglin decided to do some research about the person Bryn called the gatherer. He found out about the bounty that the guardians had accepted to find the missing children, and various police reports attached to each kid. There were files on every one of them, even Bryn, and it contained some awful things. 

It was more than likely that Peter and the rest of his crew had seen the file, they probably knew all about where the child was from and what she had been through. When Yondu first told him about the kids, he wondered why they hadn't just given her to some orphanage or children's home, it would definitely be easier than raising her. 

Now he knew why. 

"It would suck," the Xandarian murmured smirking at her. 

Faster than Yondu and Kraglin would like to admit they saw Bryn running up to Drax's waiting arms as he lifted the child into the air. She laughed with the large alien who told her how much they had missed her before Gamora instructed him to put her down before she hit something. 

"Thank you," the green woman surprised them for a moment. "For healing her injuries." 

"We were going to," Rocket tried to explain that none of them knew what to do. But his words faded after Bryn hugged him excitedly.  

"The units are in your account, thanks again," Peter addressed them.  

"Look at what uncle Yondu got me," Bryn pulled out her new rock with vigor. She lifted it up for them to look at, but made sure that they knew it was only for her hands as she held onto it tightly. 

"That was nice," the Terran looked from Bryn to the ravager captain. "Of him to get for you." 

"He gets the coolest stuff," she assured Peter. "And uncle Kwaglin is the best!" 

"Really?" Peter questioned. "How'd that happen?" 

"Are you ready to leave?" Gamora said looking down at the child. 

"Wait," she almost shouted. They looked at her curiously as she ran back towards Yondu and Kraglin, hugging both of their legs tightly before smiling cheerfully at them. "Bye uncle Yondu, bye uncle Kwaglin." 

"See you soon," Yondu grinned back at her. The first mate offered a lopsided smirk as well as Bryn turned around and followed the guardians out the door. It closed tightly behind the group and shut off the child's rushed speech from their ears. 

"After her father died, Bryn's grandparents sold her," Kraglin muttered staring at the closed door. "She was bought by a man called the Gatherer. His favorite thing to do was lock her in a room in order to see how long it took her to crack," the first mate explained in a defeated voice. "He would beat her, and starve her." 

"I know," Yondu sighed. 

"She was only five when they sold her," he mumbled. Kraglin couldn't imagine selling Bryn now, let alone when she was younger. She probably trusted them, called them Grandma and Grandpa, and they'd gotten rid of her. "She would've been so small." 

"Yeah," the captain could only agree. A couple weeks after they'd first gotten Bryn Yondu had been curious about where she came from, and who the person they'd rescued her from was. He'd found many of the same files Kraglin had that morning. 

"We should kill him." 

"Way ahead of you," Yondu growled turning away from the door.  

A week ago Yondu had felt bad for the child, he couldn't help but pity her for being through so much, and wondered faintly if he'd ever see her again. A week ago he hadn't been thinking about what to do the next time Bryn would come to stay with them, and what adventures they might go on. Yondu hadn't seen the black eye on her face or felt angry at whoever had done it. A week ago the child wasn't following him around, and smiling up at him as if he was the coolest person in the world. 

A week ago he hadn't cared, but today. Today there was someone he needed to kill.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bryn gets new rules.

"This game is stupid," Drax muttered while moving his piece around the board. 

"Candyland is a vintage game, I thought Bryn would like it," Peter said taking a card and sighing. "Back to the peppermint forest." 

"At least you're going somewhere, I've only moved like ten spaces in three turns," Rocket growled staring down at his red gingerbread piece. 

"Are you having fun tiny one?" Drax questioned the child. Bryn had her head on the table, pouting because she kept landing on all the squares with the black dots and getting stuck. 

"Yeah, but I keep getting stopped by stupid black spots," she mumbled looking enviously at Gamora's blue man. She was the only one of them who seemed to get all the right cards and wasn't too far from the end. 

"How are you so lucky?" Peter said giving the green alien a suspicious look. 

"Maybe you didn't shuffle it enough," she smirked moving twelve spaces with one card. 

Initially, it was Rocket and Peter who thought the game would be a good idea, they could all play together, and it was generally for kids anyway. Drax had no idea what a board game was and didn't understand it even after they'd explained it a few times. Gamora had gotten the gist of it and said she'd participate as long as Bryn asked her to, and of course she had. 

It'd been a week and a half since they picked up Bryn, who, for a couple days, couldn't stop showing everyone her new rock. Rocket still found it hard to believe that the Ravager captain had even considered getting the girl something in the first place. Apparently still convinced that Yondu probably let Bryn follow him around but didn’t offer her anything in terms of companionship or entertainment.  

In the past few days Peter had taken to showing Bryn how to dance to some of her favorite songs, which she enjoyed. Usually the night ended with Drax trying to pick the kid up and knocking her head into the ceiling or shoving something over and breaking it because he wasn't paying attention. The big alien wasn't even sure what dancing was, kept calling it a mating ritual, but since Bryn was always so excited for it he couldn't help but join in. 

Another thirty minutes of Candyland saw Gamora to win twice, after the first time she went back to the beginning so she could keep playing with them. Drax had won once, Bryn almost won but got sent back to the Plumpy, Rocket had given up quite a while ago, and Peter was just about to win for the first time. They'd already shuffled all the cards back together at least four times, each guardian had tried their hand at mixing them and every time it sucked. 

"Can we dance instead?" Bryn finally groaned after landing on a black dot. "I don't wanna be stuck here all night," she sighed. Peter brightened at the idea of showing the girl some of his best dance moves, even if Rocket laughed at them it was fun watching Bryn try her best. 

"Thank god," Rocket exclaimed knocking his game piece over and grabbing potted Groot. The little plant had seemed to be the most entertained by the game. 

"I will also dance," Drax said getting up to join them. 

"Fine, but no more breaking things," Peter sighed starting up the music. 

They danced, or tried to, until Bryn started to move slowly and they could tell it was time for bed. At home, on the Milano, Bryn slept with the door open, so if she did wake up from a night she knew exactly where she was. She'd see her rock collection or hear someone snoring in the next room and know that if she needed them her family was right next door.  

In the first month or so Bryn cried in her sleep, and didn't like being alone at all for long periods of time, especially at night, and would often end up in Rocket's room. The little guardian didn't like it at first and complained to the rest of the group, but had gotten used to it after a while. He even missed it from time to time now that Bryn was used to the ship and everything about it.  

Every once in a while something would scare Bryn, and she was tugging at his sheets, saying his name softly, and he'd welcome her. Whispering that she was safe and nothing could get to her here, and she'd curl up next to him and make him feel like the most important person in the world. 

He liked that feeling. 

.o.o. 

"We're going shopping today," Peter announced after breakfast. 

"Didn't we go last week?" Rocket questioned. He didn't much care for crowds, if only because Bryn was always eager to pull away and look at something, and though he didn't want to admit it. There was a bit of worry that always accompanied the girl being lost in a big crowd of people. 

"Yes, but we need some more food, a couple parts for the ship, and some stuff for Bryn," he explained going up towards the helm. "Then we should be good for a couple weeks," came Peter's voice from above them. 

Usually Drax was in charge of watching Bryn, but after he'd lost her last time they decided that Rocket and Gamora would form a kind of tag team in order to keep an eye on her. Although this time Bryn surprised them. 

"If I'm good and stay with you do I get something cool?" She asked with a grin. 

"What about if you walk away from us?" Gamora said peering down at her. 

"Then I don't get anything, that's what uncle Yondu said," the child frowned looking at the ground. 

"Sounds good to me," Rocket grinned. They were going to buy her some new planets for her view master anyway, but with this new rule there was more of an incentive for the girl to stay with them. 

"Uncle Yondu taught you that?" Drax mused as Bryn nodded. "He is a smart man." 

The trip went well after that, Bryn almost ran off a couple times but would glance back and remember what she had told them about being good and getting rewarded. Which would end up with her fidgeting restlessly in the group until one of them sighed and led her towards whatever had caught her eye. Or they would feel her hands grabbing at their pants and look down at her to see that she was staring off in one direction. 

At least now she was asking instead of just going off by herself without telling anyone. If anything, Peter had never expected Yondu to be the one to teach her that going off by herself was bad, and she wouldn't get anything if that's what she did. How did that make them look? Not very good, they hadn't managed to teach her much in the way of rules, if her injuries were any clue to how well she listened. But she was happy again, like a child should be, thanks to them! That was something to be proud of. 

If they continued like how it was now, Peter and the rest of the guardians could continue being the fun parents of Bryn, let her explore and laugh like she was never able to do before. And then for the few days that Yondu and the Ravagers had her would be the time where she learned a few good lessons, and how the world worked. After all, he hated seeing the girl sad and upset, and if they started enforcing rules, wouldn't she come to dislike them as well? 

Maybe, maybe not. 

He'd just have to see what happened. 

"We can't just let her run around," Rocket growled. Bryn had explored her new planets until she'd gotten tired and gone to bed, and now it was time to talk about what Peter had been thinking about. 

"What if we come down too hard on her and she doesn't like us anymore?" Peter countered leaving the little guardian looking thoughtful for a moment. 

"That's how she gets hurt," Gamora cut in. "Do you like seeing her get hurt?" 

"Of course not," the Terran huffed. 

"We have to start telling her no sometimes," Rocket said with a frown. He didn't like it any more than the others, but after seeing how well she had done today it was clear they had to start making some rules for the girl. 

"I think she will be sad, but it will be good," Drax added. "Children do not understand what is best sometimes." 

"Even he understands," Gamora said, looking sternly at Peter. 

"But that doesn't mean we can leave her alone," Rocket said.  

One of the things they constantly argued about was whether or not they needed to send Bryn to Yondu in order to keep her out of their work. Even though it'd only happened twice they missed the little alien when she wasn't around, and somehow still felt a little uneasy about leaving her on a ship full of criminals. 

"It'd be easier-," Peter started but rocket cut him off. 

"We can't be like he was and lock her up here, even if we promise to come back." They all nodded around him, thinking back to how she was when they first found her. Still smiling, but only if they were near her, and only a little bit. 

"From now on we should decide things like this, when we do things individually with her that's when she gets hurt," Peter sighed. It was cumbersome to get them all together sometimes, especially after a long day, or when they just wanted to go to sleep. But Bryn was more important, and they worked better as a team. 

"Agreed," Rocket muttered. 

"So for the big jobs she goes to Yondu right? We all think so?" The Terran questioned of them all. 

"Yes." 

.o.o. 

Over the course of the next two weeks Bryn was getting better at following directions, she'd never had much trouble anyway, it was just that the guardians liked to spoil her most of the time.  

She knew that talking to strangers, even the ones that looked nice, wasn't a good thing, and usually meant that she would get less time on her view master than normal. After she'd grabbed something that she thought was a pretty rock on the ground that turned out to be a little alien monster they had a new rules for her. If she wanted to take something home she had to ask them first if it was safe, or if it was some insect thing. 

Often what happened, was that the adults would forget about the rule and Bryn would remind them by asking if it was okay or by telling them she had broken the rule. 

"Sometimes I feel like she's the adult," Peter sighed as she held up a rock to him. 

"Is this one okay?" She questioned going on her tip toes so they could see it. 

"Yeah Bryn, you can take it home," Rocket replied from her side. 

They'd taken her along with them to find some long lost treasure on a little planet that had been deserted for many thousands of years. It reminded Peter of the infinity stone, but this artifact they were getting was worth much less. The only reason they'd accepted the job was because it was something Bryn could come with them on.  

On this planet, no one was trying to kill them, or picking a fight. So far, it was a bunch of ruins, lots of rocks for Bryn to fawn over, and tiny alien monsters who scurried away wherever they walked. 

"Can I go get the one from over there?" Bryn asked again after something else caught her eye. 

"Take Drax with you," Peter sighed. The child cheered and ran off with the large alien trailing behind her, Rocket followed as well, just for extra support in case anything happened. 

"What does this thing look like?" Gamora groaned looking at the picture of it again. "It's a rock, is this why you accepted this job? For Bryn?" 

"Yeah, thought she would have fun. Then she wouldn't be so sad when we take her to Yondu tomorrow," he explained kicking a small monster out of the way. "And she loves rocks." 

Just as they were about to turn down a different direction the sound of breaking and collapsing buildings roared behind them. They glanced at each other for a second before realizing that it came from the direction where Bryn and the rest of the guardians had disappeared to.  

As they started sprinting back towards the sound it was quiet for a moment before the ground beneath them began to quake as well, rumbling beneath their shoes as if it was tearing itself apart.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A building collapsed and Bryn misses Rocket.

"Look uncle Yondu," Bryn ran up to the captain with a big grin on her face. "I broke my arm!" The guardians arrived much the same as they did before, slowly and very ashamed. 

"You what?" Kraglin growled next to Yondu. 

"I got a purple cast! They let me pick the color, isn't that cool?" She questioned looking from Yondu to Kraglin with an excited expression on her face. 

"Sure it is," the Centaurian smiled down at the child. 

 He ruffled her hair and glanced at Kraglin with a slight glare on his face that the first mate understood as frustration. The Xandarian led Bryn off the to side while Yondu walked up to the embarrassed looking adults in front of him that barely made it through the door before stopping. 

"Should be gone for a few days this time, three nights at the most," Peter muttered. He felt bad enough having to see Bryn walk around with a cast on for the last day, and didn't feel like explaining anything to the man before him. 

It wasn't supposed to be a hard job, that's why they'd picked it in the first place. How were they supposed to know that the rock they were supposed to find was keeping the planet together? It didn't say anything about it in the information log, and it was just plain bad luck that Bryn found it before anyone else. 

She had also been the first one to realize what was happening and pushed Rocket out of the way as the building collapsed on top of them. Drax had been the one to get her out and rush her back to the ship with them as she clutched her arm in quiet agony. Her face had been wet with tears but she kept saying that she wasn't weak, just as Drax had told her, and that crying meant she was a baby. 

They took her immediately to a doctor who set her arm back in place, gave her some medicine to help along the healing process, and let her pick out the color of her cast. Which he explained would only be on her for about a week, as the liquid he'd given her was very fast acting. 

Of all of them, Rocket was the most pissed off at what happened. Mainly because he was the one who had been pushed out of the way. The fact that Bryn had chosen to protect him instead of herself meant that she probably thought very little of herself. He should have been the one to push her out of the way, he should have been the one who got hurt. 

At first he'd felt awful about it, but Bryn's cheerful smile at his safety was enough for him to forget his anger at the moment. Now he was just disappointed in himself. 

"Ain't got nothing else to say?" Yondu asked.  

"She already took some medicine to heal faster, so don't give her anything else," Rocket explained without taking his eyes off the child. "You might make her sick." 

"I might make her sick," the captain chuckled softly. 

"What does he mean?" Drax said, not quite understanding the sarcasm. 

"Nothing," Peter sighed as Gamora set her eyes in a glare. "Bryn," he called out to the child. The little alien was showing Kraglin something but looked towards them suddenly at the sound of her name. "We'll be back in a few days, make sure you behave for uncle Yondu okay?" 

She'd already started running over to them before Peter finished talking and began hugging all of their legs. Usually Rocket would pat her on the shoulder, but this time when she went to hug him he hugged her back, as if he was trying to convey how sorry he was all over again.  

"I will," she nodded her head, taking the comment as a mission. 

After another round of goodbyes Bryn watched the door close behind them before turning back towards her uncles and lifting up her purple arm proudly. Yondu looked at Kraglin agitated, he had been expecting some sort of shoddy story from the guardians about what had happened to Bryn, but nothing of the sort had been offered. At least this time they had taken her to a proper doctor who knew what he was doing, although just to be safe they were going to go see Zeyka anyway. 

"Do you want to go see Zeyka?" The captain questioned, watching her nodd with excitement. 

"Then I can tell all of you about the rock I found, and how I broke my arm," she said running to catch up with Kraglin. He'd already started down the hall towards the med bay, trying his best to get the bitterness off his face, so Bryn wouldn't see him angry. 

"Did you break it because you wandered off alone?" Yondu questioned remembering how the first mate had to redirect her whenever she saw something exciting on Xandar last time. 

"No, rocket and Drax were there too. Peter said that from now on if I wander off they'd take away my view-master, and I didn't want that to happen," she muttered. The Centaurian nodded in understanding, at least they'd tried to set down some rules for her, even if they hadn't helped in the long run it was a start. 

"Why didn't they get hurt?" Kraglin grunted before he could stop himself. 

"I didn't want that to happen," Bryn exclaimed starling them with her suddenly loud voice. "So I pushed them out of the way." 

"Adults like us," Yondu started waiting to catch her gaze. "We can take care of ourselves," he explained seeing Bryn deflate at his words. 

"I didn't want to lose anyone else," she mumbled.  

With that comment hanging in the air Bryn walked into the med bay to see the tall orange alien finishing off a bandage on another man's arm. The child's face brightened at the sight of her friend as she rushed forward to grab at his legs before he even had time to turn around and see her there. The man he had been bandaging eyed Bryn curiously before Yondu growled at him. 

"Get out," the captain grunted. The other Ravager glanced at the child again before walking quickly out of the room, faintly wondering if this was the kid that the first mate had been leading around a while ago. 

"Do you want to sign my cast Zeyka?" Bryn took a step back in order to let the tall alien turn around. 

"Cast?" The doctor sighed, he should've known that the child would come back with another injury. He turned around to see Bryn holding it out for him to see. The purple cast went from just above her left elbow to her wrist, wrapping around her thumb and palm. "What happened?" 

"A building fell on me," she said motioning with her hands at how it had fallen on her. "I took the rock, but it was a stupid rock, and then the planet started to break. Everyone almost got smashed, but I saw what was happening, so I pushed them out of the way, but it fell on me and it hurt," she explained hardly stopping to breathe. "But I didn't cry!" 

"You must have been scared, but it was very brave of you," he muttered placing her on the bed. The position felt familiar and made Zeyka realize that whenever he saw the girl during work she was sitting on the bed looking up at him. 

"I wasn't scared," she countered defiantly. The doctor stared at her blandly until she turned away from him stubbornly. "Maybe just a little." 

"She already took some medicine to help her heal," Yondu said from behind them. "I just want you to make sure everything about her looks okay." 

"Of course," the orange alien nodded. It was quiet for a couple minutes, except for the soft chatter of Bryn as she talked to her friend while he checked the rest of her body for scrapes or scabs. "Captain," the doctors voice caught Yondu's attention. 

"What?" He responded with a grunt. 

"Can I meet these people when they come to pick her up?" Zeyka had finished with Bryn and turned towards the Centaurian with an irritated expression. 

"Is there a reason why?" Yondu smirked at the doctor. 

"Just want to tell them something," he assured as Bryn looked up at him curiously. 

"I'll call you when they get back in a few days," the captain assured him.  

Zayka nodded before looking down at the child below him and telling her to make sure she was careful with her cast. Soon after that she was off with Kraglin, because Yondu had explained that he would be busy with other things until after dinner. That was okay with Bryn because the first mate had mentioned something about going to see the engine room and the girl had pushed everything else far from her mind. 

They met Asudu, who was in charge of making sure everything was running smoothly, right away. The yellow-green skinned alien was a little surprised by Bryn's presence but hid it well after Kraglin gave him a stiff glare. 

"Y'like looking at machinery?" Asudu asked a little skeptical. He'd never had a child in his work area, and assumed it would never happen because kids were more wrapped up in buying the newest thing in the galaxy. 

"Yeah, it's cool," she cheered. The engineer glanced up at the first mate to see that he wasn't at all shocked by what she had said, this was probably normal to him by now. "Rocket tell me all about our ship at home, and I like how warm it is in here. But I do know," she paused pulling her hands back hesitantly. "That I have to ask before I touch something." 

"Well lookit you, yer daddy taught you well," Asudu laughed. It was a booming sound that filled Bryn with the noise, but she only laughed along with him. "D'ya wanna see the best part?" 

"Yeah!" She said suddenly very determined. 

Asudu was a very crass sort of man, who walked Bryn around the room pointing and different things and explaining what they did. Startling her a few times when she almost bumped into something, shouting at unnecessary times, and laughing way to close for comfort. Of course the child thought he was one of the best people ever, and didn't hesitate to tell him so. 

She especially liked the engine room here compared to the Milano because it was much bigger and warmer, and it reminded her of sitting and listening to Rocket, which she loved. The yellow green alien was bent on making Bryn jump in surprise but the girl seemed quite unflappable.  

"Wait," he shouted all of a sudden. Kraglin, who was used to him shrieking and yelling only sighed and turned around to face him, while Bryn jerked suddenly to the left and stepped off the walkway. She groaned for a second before tugging at her leg, which was now stuck between two pieces of metal, and glaring at the man. 

"Stoppit," she muttered finally getting her leg out with Kraglin's help. The first mate pulled Bryn up by her arms until she was back on the metal walkway. 

"I gotcha good," Asudu laughed before walking back into the heat of the area. 

"Let's go do something else, I'm getting a headache," Kraglin said taking Bryn's hand and leading her away. She shouted at the engineer in farewell, but was secretly glad they were leaving. Rocket didn't try to frighten her for fun, he was patient and seemed eager to explain things to her, Asudu, not so much. 

Dinner went back quickly, and Yondu met them afterwards, giving Kraglin a break as he walked Bryn all over the ship, asking if there was anything she wanted to take a closer look at. While at the same time making sure everyone knew who the child was and not to mess with her, for real this time. At first it had simply been a suggestion, because if Bryn had gotten hurt it would've been a bother, but now they cared for the girl. And if anything were to happen to her because of a Ravager, there would be hell to pay. 

That night Kraglin barely roused awake when Bryn snuck into his room holding her blanket. Over the past couple weeks when she'd been gone the first mate kept expecting her to show up in his room in the middle of the night. He had to remind himself that she had gone home, and didn't need him, it was a feeling he kind of missed when she was gone. 

He mumbled something close to, _get in the bed_ , but all in all didn’t mind the small form that wiggled under the covers and whispered goodnight to him.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bryn goes on a scavenger hunt and Kraglin realizes he's becoming attached.

During breakfast the next morning Yondu strolled in with a smug look on his face. An expression that usually meant he had scored on a bounty and they were going to make a lot of money and be set for a while. Except this time it was directed at the little alien child sitting across from him, who was currently trying some of Zeyka's drink and frowning at the taste. 

She looked up at her doctor friend with a deeply disappointed frown on her face, one that the orange alien could help but laugh at as she ate some of her own food to get rid of the taste. This time she hadn't asked about the drink, but they couldn't help but notice the way her eyes kept going over to it.  Zeyka had decided to humor her for once. 

"I told you it was for adults," he chuckled. 

"Your taste buds are weird," she mumbled through a bite of food. 

"What are you grinning about?" Kraglin whispered to the captain suspiciously. 

 The Centaurian had sat down a couple minutes ago but said nothing to explain the look on his face and merely watched them talk. Initially the first mate paid him no attention, if he wanted to tell them what he was so excited for he would in his own time. But the smirk was getting on his nerves now. 

"Oh me," he cackled as if caught off guard. "Nothing much," he assured the first mate. The Xandarian didn't change his skeptical expression and merely averted his gaze away from the man, he was definitely waiting for the right moment to speak. 

It happened a few minutes later, after Bryn had just finished all her food and was starting to fidget with little crumbs on her tray. By now they could easily pick out her little tell tale signs of boredom and wanting to do something else, this was one of them. 

"I made a treasure hunt for you," Yondu grinned again. 

Immediately Bryn's eyes lit up at the word, she looked over at him in disbelief before glancing at Kraglin and Zeyka to see if it was true or not. 

"Really?" She gasped looking back at him. "In the ship?" She giggled when he nodded her head. "Does that mean I get to explore even more?"  

There were still some parts of the Eclector that Bryn had not been to yet, and every time they walked past them she would stare hopefully in their direction. Kraglin was constantly assuring her that the rooms were nothing special, and that once she was inside it wouldn't be nearly as exciting as she thought it would. 

It didn't seem to deter her though, and the first mate couldn't help but chuckle at the wondrous gaze that fell over her face whenever they passed by. If there was one thing Kraglin was thankful for with Bryn, it was her ability to smile. After everything she'd gone through, it would have been understandable if she still screamed at night or retreated within herself. No child should be put through what she did. 

Yet Bryn was excited for rocks! She explored virtual planets and created stories about people who might live there, and she cheered about it almost the entire time. Peter had been that way as well, determined. Hopefully Bryn would turn out much the same. 

"You do," he said before handing her a piece of paper. There were five things written on it, objects that she was supposed to find and bring back to him with names of the people who knew where they were. 

"Does uncle Kwaglin get to play?" She asked looking hopefully at the Centaurian. 

"Of course," he said turning to the first mate with a stern nod. Kraglin was pretty sure he was going to be participating anyway, there was no way Yondu was comfortable letting Bryn wander around the ship by herself. Not after what the first mate had told him about Asudu the day before.  

Maybe in a couple years when she was older. 

The thought stopped him short, did they even have a future with the child? The way he was thinking about it made it seem like they were the ones taking care of her all the time, as if she was going to be a ravager like they were. 

He was already getting too attached. 

"Uncle Kraglin is going to help you until lunch time, and then I'll help you afterwards," he explained. 

"Awesome," Bryn breathed eager to get started. 

"Does that mean this thing is going to take all day?" Kraglin muttered in disbelief. He could see it taking an hour or two, at the most three, but not anywhere past five hours 

"Well if you find everything," Yondu said turning a glare on his first mate. "We'll have to go planetside to pick up your prize." 

"A prize?!" She gasped, her eyes getting infinitely wider. 

"Sounds like you're in for an exciting day," Zeyka laughed softly before getting up to leave. "Tell me how it went tomorrow," he waved. 

"I'll show you my prize tonight," she called after him.  

For a moment Kraglin worried about the fact that Bryn didn't have any friends her age, everyone around her was already an adult. But perhaps Yondu had realized this already and that was the reason he had given her something especially childish to do. 

"Can we start now?" She gripped the piece of paper as if a wind was trying to rip it from her hands. Instead of responding the captain merely motioned towards the rest of the ship and watched as Bryn moved excitedly out of her chair and towards the exit. Kraglin followed closely behind her, making a couple comments as she began to chatter at him about what they were doing. 

The first mate's thoughts weren't so far off from what Yondu himself had been thinking about. He liked having the girl around, it helped him to look at everything so differently. To her a rock was the best thing ever, simply because it was purple. 

When she was gone he found himself picking things up and wondering how she might have reacted to it, or if he should keep it for the next time she came. He kept wanting to buy her things even though he had no idea what she had on the Milano and would instead stop himself with a growl. Bryn wasn't his kid, he shouldn't be thinking about these things. 

When she had arrived with yet another injury he couldn't stop the feeling of bitter rage that rose up within. The black eye was one thing, easily healed up within a couple days, but a broken arm. She'd been through enough already, couldn't they give her a break? 

That was when he'd realized that whatever he had with Bryn had already gotten farther than he would have liked it to. He'd gotten too close to the girl, too involved. 

The only question that stopped him from doing anything else was if he was okay with it or not. Though there was one thing he was certain of. He didn't want to figure it out after she'd gotten hurt again.  

.o.o. 

Bryn ended up running all over the ship with Kraglin following behind her. The first object she'd had to find was a part of a broken blaster that Yondu had hidden in the back of the firing range, the first mate let her be the one to sprint to the end of it. She had more energy than he cared for, and already he wanted to go sit down and work on something else. But she looked so excited he followed behind without saying too much. 

At lunch she proudly showed the captain the three useless objects that they had been able to find together. After figuring out the second one was part of a chair Kraglin was sure the pieces had nothing to do with each other and Yondu had just grabbed random things without any true meaning. 

"Two left, we have to find them before dinner or the prize disappears," the Centaurian muttered making Bryn gasp. 

"Let's go right now," she said pushing her tray away. 

"Eat first," the captain moved it back in front of her. "I don’t want to hear you complaining about being hungry," he growled pointing at her food. 

"I won't," she insisted but seemed to wilt under his gaze. "Okay." 

She ate her food quickly, before grabbing the paper again and running around to the other side of the table where Yondu was sitting. Her small hands pulled at his coat for a second before she was rushing off towards the next person on the list. Yondu chuckled at her enthusiasm and wondered how long it would last as the day wore on. 

The person they talked to led them to the gun storage room where another man, a tall pink alien told them that the object had been moved to a place that was warm. 

"I know where that is, but we should get it fast and not talk," she explained going towards the engine room. 

"Why's that?" Yondu asked surprised she knew the right direction it was in. 

"I don't like him," she muttered shaking her head moodily. 

"Sounds good to me," the captain chuckled at her attitude.  

For the most part Bryn was, more or less, content with all of the people they met, and the things they did, but it was always a little funny when she wasn't. Cheth was the first alien she didn't care for, and that was only because she had been called a baby. Now there was Asudu who liked to scare her for a reaction, the way she rejected him so outright made the Centaurian grin. 

"He tried to scare me and I almost fell off the walkway," Bryn muttered shaking her head at the memory. 

"So he got you then?" He was teasing her now. 

"No," she denied it quickly. Glancing back at him with a defiant look on her face that Yondu knew to be her embarrassed expression. 

"He must've got you good," the captain whistled making Bryn huff in front of him. 

"I wasn't scared," she whispered making him grin all the more. 

They ended up getting everything with about thirty minutes to spare before dinner started, after getting the last object Yondu could tell that Bryn was worn out. Running around all day, going back and forth throughout the ship had sapped the energy from her, which was a little odd to see. It reminded the Centaurian of the first couple day that they'd been entrusted with her. At that point she hadn’t been sleeping because of the nightmares, but despite her exhaustion there was still a lazy smile on her face. 

It was much of the same at the moment. 

"I did it uncle Kwaglin," she cheered as they passed by the first mate. "Uncle Yondu said we're going to get my prize now," the child grinned. At the beginning of the day she had been leading the way, but now, at the end of the day, she was walking behind the captain slowly. 

"Save her some food, we'll be back in a hour or so," Yondu instructed of the Xandarian. He grunted in response, watching them head towards the captain's ship. 

.o.o. 

He'd been zoning out for a little while when Bryn's voice brought him back to the present. 

"I look like you now," she was shouting. Somehow her stamina had been replenished and Kraglin turned to meet her with a smile before it faltered at her appearance. "It's it cool?!" 

Usually the clothes Bryn wore were simple. A shirt with nonsense writing on it, a jacket that she never zipped up, pants that were easy to run in, and sometimes shoes. Though the child often ran around without them saying that her feet could handle it. 

Now she was red. Ravager red. 

A grey shirt replaced her black one, her neck lined with a tan bandana, much like Yondu's, and now a red jacket instead of the darker one she had left in. Her red pants had more pockets than he was sure she knew what to do with, and her plain shoes had been replaced with little black boots. 

"I can carry so many rocks now," she said giving him a serious look. 

"I'll bet," he sighed still baffled by her clothing. Yondu caught his expression with a grin on his face, this was why he had been so excited for the day. 

"Peter's not gonna like this," he laughed sitting down next to the first mate. 

"She looks good though," Kraglin muttered trying to imagine the captain ordering tiny ravagers clothes. 

"Yeah she does," he patted the seat next to him for Bryn to sit down at. 

"Does this mean I can go on missions with you guys now?" Bryn looked up at them hopefully. 

"Hell no," Yondu barked out in a laugh. 

"It was worth a try," she mumbled before thanking Kraglin for the food and starting to eat.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yondu shows off Bryn's new clothes and Zeyka meets the guardians.

Kraglin was late getting to bed after Yondu had returned, there were a few things they talked about before going to sleep. While walking into his room the first mate wondered faintly about when Bryn might make an appearance into his room, or if she already had but he wasn't there. If she had, did that mean she was sitting up in her room alone wondering where her uncle went? Or perhaps she was still sleeping and hadn’t yet decided to grace him with her presence, either way the Xandarian's thoughts were already consumed by the child. 

Just before his door opened Kraglin glanced at Bryn's, imagining her lying awake in her bed after finding his room empty. Should he go see if she was awake, or wait and see if she would try again? 

He sighed heavily, curious about when he began to worry so much about her, and turned to go into his room slowly. Taking off his jacket the first mate couldn't help but smile at the memory of Bryn in her new ravager gear. She'd been so excited for it, to look like they did, that during her late dinner she could barely stop talking to eat her food. 

It'd be nice if he could be that excited for new things. For now, Bryn could do it for him, because there was no one else in the galaxy, he was sure, who would get as excited about rocks as she did. 

While shucking off his pants Kraglin finally noticed the lump in his bed, the small child sized lump that was accompanied, as always, by her blanket. When he'd entered the room the lights had been just dim enough that he hadn't seen her there at first. But after going further into the room he could see her a little more clearly, and couldn't help but notice that she was still wearing all of her red clothing. 

He didn't know whether to laugh or growl at her. The fact that she was comfortable enough with him to stay in his room even when he wasn't there, and the assumption that he would be okay with it. Perhaps she'd been anxious to tell him something before bed and had fallen asleep waiting for him, and that was why she was still clothed. Whatever the reason, he had to wake her up for a moment. 

Sitting down on the bed carefully Kraglin stared down at her for a moment, imagining briefly about how she must have felt all those nights alone by herself. Relieved that she was now away from harm, at least away from intentional harm anyway. 

"Bryn," he shook her shoulder gently. She merely mumbled something in her sleep, shifting slightly on the bed before he did it again and made her rouse slightly. 

"Uncle Kwaglin?" She whispered drowsily. Hazy, sleep filled eyes looked into his own slightly irritated ones as the child took in what was happening. 

"You have to change out of your clothes," he said softly, watching her face scrunch up in defiance. 

"Don't wanna," she mumbled trying to push away from him. 

"Bryn," he started but she was still muttering something. 

"I like them too much to take them off," it sounded as if she was already going to sleep. Her voice had faded off at the end before the first mate rolled her back over to look at him. 

"If you don't change, you'll ruin them and hurt Yondu's feelings," Kraglin almost wanted to laugh at his own words. He was pretty sure the captain wouldn't care all that much, in fact the Centaurian would probably think it was endearing or cute that she wanted to stay in them.  

"Really?" She gasped. Her eyes had snapped open so quickly it made Kraglin doubt whether she'd really been asleep in the first place. Her small hands clutched at her blanket nervously as she looked at the tired man in front of her. "Would he be sad?" 

"Very sad," he nodded. 

"I don't want that," she whispered pushing herself out of bed sluggishly. He watched her almost fall off the bed, doing her best to regain control of her tired body as she moved towards the door. "Don't go to sleep until I get back." 

"I won't," Kraglin chuckled. Sometimes he forgot how easy it was to get Bryn to do things, though it was probably how all children were. 

Within a few minutes Bryn was back in the room, her red ravagers clothes had been changed out for one of Peter's dark grey shirts, it went past her knees like a dress.  

"Uncle Yondu will be happy now right?" She questioned moving back towards her spot. 

"Yup," the Xandarian yawned. 

"Good," she whispered settling under the sheets once more. "Night uncle Kwaglin." 

"G'night," he said in return. 

 For a moment, while Bryn fell back asleep, Kraglin wondered who did this for her with the guardians or if she was perhaps at home now on the Milano. The first night with the child had been a bother, and waking up to see she was still there in the morning was just another means for agitation. But now, after hearing her small voice wish his a good night all those times, he didn't mind it so much anymore. 

.o.o. 

"Hey boy," Yondu greeted Peter with a grin. 

The Terran looked confused for a second on the other side of the screen before worry washed over his features, and then rage. 

"Did something happen to Bryn?" The Terran questioned with a deep glare. Of all the times they had dropped Bryn off with the ravagers there had never been a call to ask questions or anything of the sort. Getting one so randomly was certainly a cause for alarm right? 

"No," the Ravager captain laughed before frowning. "I do don't do reckless things with her," he chided.  

"Then what do you want?" Gamora growled walking into view. 

"Just wanted to show you something," the Centaurian mumbled with a grimace. As if they ruined his excitement with their assumptions of bad care. 

"Well hurry up, we've still got one more thing to do before we come get her. If we finish early we'll be there tonight before bed," Peter explained while Yondu simply stared at him. The captain turned around to look at Kraglin with an agitated expression, one that the first mate mirrored. 

"Can you believe them?" He tisked, ignored the other side of the call. "Thinking that we would hurt Bryn." He laughed at the notion. 

"I wanna see them," Bryn said while fidgeting with her new red clothes anxiously.  

"C'mere," Yondu smirked at her. She walked towards him quickly, stopping at his legs so he could pick her up under her arms. 

He'd told the girl that he was sure the guardians would be excited about her new clothes just as much as she was, and that they should show them. Of course Bryn was all for the idea, wanting her family to share in her joy of being as red as her uncles. 

"Look at what uncle Yondu got me," she cheered as soon as she could see them on the screen. "Now I look like him and uncle Kwaglin." 

"I see that." Peter was doing his best to smile so Bryn would think he was just as pumped as she was, but on the inside he was more than a little peeved at her clothing. A couple times the Terran had been a little worried about leaving Bryn in the care of the people who had raised him, because it had started out as a kidnapping. He had turned out alright in the end, but the Terran couldn't help but worry. 

What if the Ravagers were attacked and they didn't think about what might happen to Bryn? Yondu could suddenly decide that she wasn’t worth the effort and get rid of her? Another random crew member could break into her room and off her. 

These were all thoughts that had disappeared after the first couple times that she was returned to them completely fine, and sometimes she seemed to have learned things while in their care. As it turned out, being with them actually did her some good, because it showed her that she had more family than she originally thought. 

What he hadn't been expecting, or wanting for that matter, was to see Bryn, their Bryn, wearing all Ravager red. It was kind of cute to see her next to the two other crimson clothed people in the room, but at the same time Peter couldn’t stand it. 

Somehow, it looked like Bryn was part of their family, and not part of his. 

"Aren't they cool?" Bryn questioned sternly. She looked serious, her eyes alight with happiness, Peter couldn't help but smile at her. 

"They are," he assured her. 

"Why's she wearing that?" Rocket could be heard from somewhere behind him. 

"I like them," Drax nodded taking in her appearance. 

"Can I talk to uncle Yondu now?" Peter asked making the Centaurian smirk. "We're coming to get you tonight okay?" 

"Okay!" Bryn cheered as the Ravager captain placed her back on the ground. She ran over to Kraglin immediately and the first mate led her away. They had plans to show Zeyka her clothes after she'd forgotten to the night before. 

"Don't buy her clothes," the Terran grunted as Gamora glared. 

"She likes them," was all Yondu said in response. 

"I don't care," Peter sighed. "What was wrong with the clothes she had on?" 

"Weren’t red enough." 

"So what was this call for then?" He scoffed as Drax walked away. "To show off your little ravager, who isn't even yours?" 

"Yup, see you tonight." Yondu grinned before ending the call before Peter could respond. The captain laughed into the silence, satisfied with the irritated expression that he'd gotten from most of the guardians. "It was worth it," he chuckled. 

.o.o. 

Before the guardians arrived Yondu informed Zeyka. The doctor had said he wanted to meet Bryn's family after seeing her broken arm, and the orange alien was happy that the captain hadn't forgotten. He'd inspected the girls arm that morning and figured the cast could come off in a couple days or so, but he didn't want to see her hurt anymore than he had to.  

"You're coming too, Zeyka?" Bryn asked as they moved to where the Milano would dock. 

"I want to meet your family, then we can all be friends," he explained making the child nod in agreement. "Does that sound good?" 

"It sounds awesome," she smiled up at him. 

The doctor was planning on threatening them. Or at least giving them a piece of his mind, what kind of adults let a building collapse on a child? Not very good ones, he supposed. 

Next to him Bryn was sporting her new Ravager red clothing, proudly showing it off for the whole ship to see that she was one of them now. Perhaps Yondu had meant it to be some sort of warning for the other crew members, that she was not to be messed with. Zeyka liked it, if only because it looked more protective than the flimsy clothing she had been wearing before. The girl was a trouble maker most of the time, always looking for something fun to do, and hurting herself in the process or getting lost. Though the doctor was going off of their first meeting, when he'd found her wandering the halls. 

"Can I introduce you?" She suddenly beamed up at him. 

"Of course," the tall alien responded. 

Yondu was already waiting at the door while Kraglin followed behind Bryn lazily. He was more than a little excited to see what Zeyka was going to say to the guardians, or what he was going to do. At times, the doctor could be scary, and frequently threatened people with poisons or slow deaths at his hands. Though this only seemed to happen when they interrupted him, or he was in a bad mood. In fact, since Bryn had started coming the orange alien seemed a lot more in control than before. 

Perhaps he wanted to set a good example for the child, or Bryn reminded him of someone else. Either way, Kraglin was hoping to see something good. 

Peter and the rest of them arrived a few minutes after they got to the door, Bryn eagerly tugged on Zeyka's pants before running up to her family. Drax bent down to lift her up under the arms and laugh with her. The tall doctor walked up to them slowly and Peter couldn't help but look up at the towering alien curiously, the guy had to be at least a foot and a half taller than he was. Bryn looked tiny next to him. 

"This is Zeyka, he's my friend," Bryn smiled at Drax before continuing. "This is Drax, Peter, Gamora, and Rocket," she motioned towards each of them with the mention of their names. 

"Nice to meet you," Gamora was the first to speak. The orange alien nodded at her with what couldn't even be called a grin. Drax put Bryn back on the ground and she went immediately to hug Rocket, who reluctantly returned it. 

After a couple seconds of silence Peter got the hint that the alien wanted to talk to them, of course the tired stare was a little bit of a giveaway as well. 

"Bryn," the Terran caught her attention. "Go say goodbye to your uncles." 

"Okay," she said before running back again. 

"What your deal?" Rocket grunted glaring up at him. 

"I'm the doctor on board," Zeyka explained as a look of realization crossed their features. "I'm just curious as to why Bryn always shows up injured," he stated. 

"Maybe that's none of your business," Gamora said defiantly. The tall alien smiled at her briefly before it disappeared into a thin line. 

"I would think," Zeyka chuckled. "That if you kept a closer eye on her she wouldn't arrive injured every time. Unless that's wishful thinking?" 

"We watch her just fine," Peter muttered with a frown. 

"Of course you do," he sighed. "But what about when you're not watching her?" He questioned but spoke again before they could say anything else. "Take her to another doctor in a couple days, get the cast off," he said before turning away from them. 

"What a dick," Peter mumbled under his breath. "Let's go Bryn." 

The child had finished saying goodbye to Yondu and Kraglin and had just hugged Zeyka's legs when they called out to her. She waved at them frantically before the doors closed and cut off the sound of Yondu laughing.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The guardians take Bryn to an aquarium.

"What's an aquarium?" Bryn muttered her eyes widening. 

After a couple days of watching the child run around in her ravager red clothes proudly Peter and Rocket were convinced they needed to do something even better for her. They could get her some new clothes and make her forget about the ones she was wearing until the next time she needed to be watched by her uncles. Peter tried to remember what he had done as a kid, before he was kidnapped, or what he would have liked to do and found an answer. 

"It's a place where you can go and see a lot of different types of sea creatures," he explained. 

 The other guardians didn't appear to know what it was either. For a second he thought to ask the girl if her mother ever took her to one, but remembered reading something about her. While she had been on Earth, with her mother, they lived in a rural area because of Bryn's appearance. He could imagine that she didn't get out much. 

"Really cool water creatures," Peter went further trying to get her interested. 

"Really cool?" She questioned her face lighting up at the thought of seeing something like her rock collection.  

"The coolest creatures ever," he nodded as Rocket eyed him suspiciously. "Does that sound fun?" 

"Yeah," she cheered.  

Peter explained to Rocket that there would probably be a gift shop at the end of the building and they could get her some new clothes that she would like more than the red ones. The little guardian nodded in understanding, finally seeing what he was trying to do in the first place.   

Usually Bryn was more than content to stay with them all day no matter what they did. Whether it was spent inside the Milano listening to music and dancing idly or picking something up from a buyer. As long as she was with them it was always the coolest thing ever, and it always made Peter feel good to be the coolest person.  

Although now that he thought about it, Bryn had probably called Yondu and Kraglin something similar. Or perhaps she had even given them different names altogether, things that were even better than being cool or awesome. Whatever it was that she called them, he would do better today by taking her to the aquarium and then getting her whatever she wanted in the gift shop. Of course Peter was also sure that Bryn would find the cheapest thing in the store and want it the most. 

Bryn had switched out the shirt Yondu had given her for a teal one, that Drax had told her matched her eyes, and changed out her red pants for tan shorts that matched her bandana. She was still sporting the black boots, bandana, and red ravager jacket that Peter couldn't make her get rid of. 

"What kind of things they got in here Peter?" Rocket asked while they docked their ship in the station. The aquarium turned out to be a giant space station that grouped creatures by what planet they came from, and, according to the information pad they received, there were forty tanks to look at. 

"Looks like just a bunch of water monsters," he explained not sure what to call the things. He handed the information pad down to Bryn, making sure she had a good grip on it. "Where do you want to go first Bryn? We'll follow you around today." 

"You will?" She questioned, her face beaming up at them. 

"You're in charge today," Gamora chimed in with a smile. 

"Awesome," Bryn gasped looking back down at all the different planets. One caught her attention immediately and she jerked up to look at Peter with a fierce look in her eyes. "I wanna go to Terra." 

"What is Terra?" Drax asked looking down at her. 

The Terran captain understood immediately why the girl wanted to go there, and for a moment felt a little bad for her. Sometimes when they went to buy her some more planets for her view-master she would ask if her home planet was there, but other races didn't often visit humans. Which meant that, most of the time, when they were in shops that sold items from other planets, there was nothing there to remind Bryn of her mother. 

Having her mother die when she was so young, being carted off to live with a father who didn't seem to care for her, and then getting sold when he passed away. Peter had thought his childhood was bad, but Bryn had been through far more than he had. 

"It's a place that has sharks," Peter muttered glancing at Drax. He then took the information pad back from Bryn and began following the map. 

"What's that?" Rocket said walking behind him. Bryn grinned broadly and started after them, skipping slightly before pulling Drax along with her. 

"A sharp fish," Bryn said catching up with him.  

Gamora caught up with Peter so she could take the information pad and take a look for herself. Part of her was happy for Bryn to be so excited about seeing a bunch of underwater monsters and the other part of her was hoping the child would tire out. That way they wouldn't have to look at all Forty planets. It could end with Bryn forcing herself to walk around and Drax picking the child up when she started to slump against walls. 

"Well that doesn't make sense," Rocket muttered. 

"You'll see," Peter said moving towards the elevator. 

They ended up walking through two other planets in order to get to Terra. The first one was so dark Bryn bumped into Gamora's legs until a strange fish lit up in the darkness. All of a sudden the room was completely illuminated as thousands of tiny fish started to glow a soft eerie blue light. Drax said something with a laugh, walking up to the thick glass as if he was hypnotized by the sight of it.  

There was a small bit of movement and then they were all moving together, rushing into a single form and twisting erratically in the dark water. The light began to flash in front of them as if someone was flipping a switch on and off over and over again. 

Gamora was the one who finally grabbed Drax and pulled him out of the room as Bryn hid behind Peter's legs while they walked out. Initially the child thought that the glowing was really cool, but as soon as they started moving and coiling around themselves she tugged on their pants gently. Wanting to leave. 

"Let's never go to that planet," Rocket sighed as they started into the next room. 

The second room had strange pink water that reminded Peter of medicine that he'd taken as a child. Bryn commented on it with a gasp, before something black waved into view, moving languidly like cloth in water. In fact, that was all it looked like, thin black material that swished this way and that as it moved around the pink water was almost mesmerizing to look at.  

It kept them occupied for a while, Bryn kept running from one side of the room to the other because the black creature would follow her. The rest of the guardians didn't seem to mind, Drax even joined in for a second before announcing that the sea monster was stupid for doing the same thing over and over again. The last room on that level was Terra, and they were soon standing in front of the shark tank. 

"Sharp fish," Bryn cheered running up to the glass. "Sometimes he eats people." 

"That thing?" Rocket exclaimed in disbelief. Compared to some of the creatures he had seen before this thing looked slow and a little stupid, with his teeth sticking out. 

"Worldwide, on Terra," Peter started. He'd been reading the small facts on the information pad that came with walking into each room. "Sharks kill about five people per year." 

"How pathetic," Gamora muttered walking up next to Bryn. 

"Apparently falling coconuts kill a hundred and fifty people a year," the Terran laughed at the thought. "A coconut is a big, ball like, fruit that is really hard to eat. You have to break through the outer shell," he explained. 

"So this guy got beaten by a fruit, by food?" Rocket laughed. "That's awesome." 

"Don't make fun of him," Bryn complained and they all looked at her. "He looks lonely, and probably hasn't killed anyone in a long time." 

"He appears to have some orange things," Drax commented catching the child's attention. 

"Starfish," Peter filled them in. 

"Good," Bryn hummed. 

Though Terra was the last planet on the floor, the great white shark wasn't the only creature in the room. A dark area near the elevators on the other end caught their attention when a small glowing light appeared in the black. For a moment everyone started walking towards the glass until remembering what had happened in the previous room, and then keeping their distance. 

Teeth began to illuminate themselves in the black water before them. Sharp angled ones that seemed to stick out awkwardly, and then there was lips and a body. They all stared at it for a moment, deciding for themselves what they thought of the thing. 

"This is an angler fish that lives in dark deep sea waters," he started reading the information pad again. 

"I don't like it," Bryn whispered shrinking behind Drax's legs. 

"It is so ugly," Drax almost laughed at the thing. 

"Well I'm leaving," Rocket announced while walking towards the door. "He keeps staring at us with those creepy eyes." 

The rest of the guardians followed him out, Bryn was very eager to do so. At first she'd thought the thing was kind of cool, because it didn't need anything else but it's light, but then she saw the face. She'd tried to think about it nicely, to imagine having that face, but all she could think about was waking up in the middle of the night and seeing it loom over her. Which was a scary thought. 

On the next floor was a large tank, Peter listed off some things on the information pad and they found out it was the largest in the entire aquarium. To Bryn's surprise, there were some other children in the area, they had their own information pads and were flicking through them and giggling. She looked up at Gamora with wide eyes, and the woman had to remind herself that the last time the child had seen someone her own age had been with the Gatherer. 

"Do you want to go talk to them?" Gamora asked as Bryn turned to stare at them. 

"I dunno," she mumbled. 

"You can go ask them what their favorite creature is," Peter urged her. 

She nodded slowly, walking over to where the other children were with hesitant steps. It was strange for them to see because with adults Bryn was always excited to meet new people, usually grinning from ear to ear. Yet she looked so uncomfortable walking to those her own age at the moment. 

The guardians all exchanged anxious glances before settling back on Bryn, she'd finally made contact with them and was asking something they couldn't hear. The other kids laughed at whatever she had said and looked at each other in disbelief. In the next few seconds Bryn had turned around and was almost running back to them, a disgruntled expression on her face. 

"What happened?" The Terran questioned.  

"I asked them what their most favorite rock was," she started off her story. "But they said rocks were lame and started laughing at me so I left." 

"I think they're the lame ones," Rocket growled.  

"Do you ever want to play with kids your own age?" Peter said bending down to Bryn's level. 

"Rocks are better," she replied without a second thought. 

It was one of those comments again that almost made the guardians guffaw in shock. Every once in a while the child would surprise them with an action or by saying something that was unknowingly harsh. Bryn didn't think much of it and started walking towards the glass, wanting to see what was inside the tank, but Peter and Rocket looked ready to burst.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The guardians argue about clothing.

By the end of the day at the aquarium each of the guardians had found their favorite sea monster, and they also had their least favorite as well. Gamora had been hoping that Bryn would tire herself out and they would be able to leave early but the child had been determined to see every single tank that they had. What the green skinned woman hadn't been expecting was to enjoy it. It was normal for days to go by slowly, achingly for her, but the day with Bryn running around happily went by so fast she almost wished it had been longer. 

They had even had lunch at the aquarium and everything was themed after certain creatures from some of the more popular planets. They got Bryn a kids meal with fish shaped sandwiches and seaberries.  

Throughout the day they saw a lot of other children, but every time Bryn saw them she merely turned away and rushed towards the tank instead. Peter had to remind himself that she was probably imagining her rocks back on the Milano and couldn't help but chuckle at the thought. 

"Which one was your favorite Bryn?" Gamora asked looking down at the child. They were now walking towards the end of the tour, where Peter had explained that there was going to be a store where they could get souvenirs.  

"That really mean looking green thing," she grinned up at her. 

When they'd first walked into the room where the creature had been Bryn walked up to the glass nervously. A dark green creature that looked to be the size of Drax stared back at her with glowing rusty orange eyes that followed her movements. It had large sharp teeth that turned down into a frown and long arms and legs that ended with clawed web fingers. His tail looked like an eel decided to attach itself to him, and all over his body were small tentacle like arms that reached out and touched the rocks walls and water around him. 

Bryn said he looked very bored and couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him. They ended up staying in his area for a while because at random moments he'd swim out of sight and come back to slam himself into the glass. The first time this happened Bryn had been waiting at the glass to see where he'd gone, and jumped back anxiously at the sight of him so suddenly. 

"I thought you were afraid of him," Rocket added in. 

"No, he just startled me," she assured them.  

After spending such a long time with the guardians Bryn had started using some bigger words that Peter or Rocket would often use. When she used them in a sentence it always made them proud because most of the time she'd follow them around and ask what the word meant. Which got annoying at times, but always paid off when she remembered what it meant. 

"Uh huh, sure," the little guardian laughed. 

"I wasn't scared," she pouted making him shake his head. 

"I liked red blob thing," Drax said with a grin. 

It had to be the most boring thing in the whole station. One tank was full of light grey water and had about ten red blobs floating around in it. Each one was about the size of Bryn and had eight eyes that moved around the surface of it without any clear path. The only way it could have been interesting was if they had started exploding and reforming, but all they did was follow Drax with their eyes as he walked back and forth. 

Even Bryn thought they were lame, but she didn't tell Drax that. 

"Those were so boring," Peter muttered under his breath. In front of them loomed the gift shop, which was a lot bigger than he had been expecting it to be. Although he was nonetheless excited to get Bryn some new clothes that would make her want to get rid of her red ravager ones. 

"What is that?" Bryn gasped looking at all the flashing price signs and toys that were hanging in front of the doors. 

"Alright," Peter started. "Bryn, you can pick a couple things you want, and we'll get them for you." 

"Really?" Her eyes widened as she tried to imagine what she wanted. 

"Can I get something too?" Drax questioned glancing around at everything as they went into the gift shop. 

"What?" The Terran looked at him incredulously. "I don't care, sure." 

"I will be back," the large alien announced before going off by himself. Rocket and Gamora watched him go before turning to look at Peter and then down at Bryn. 

"We can all get something," Peter sighed. The guardians looked at each other with small grins before going off in different directions.  

From the very start of the day Bryn had been looking at all the sea creatures, but she had also been looking at all the rocks inside the tanks and wondering where she could find some of her own. Now, as she walked through and looked at the many shelves, she was more than excited to see that there was a aisle with many different types of shells and things one might find at the bottom of an ocean or sea. 

One caught her eye immediately. There was a box of them with writing on the side that Bryn made out slowly claiming that the rocks glowed in the dark. 

 Bryn recognized them immediately from one of her favorite planets in the aquarium. The creature in the tank looked bored and lazy, but she had been more interested in all the glowing purple rocks that light up the dark corners of the tank. Rocket thought she liked the fish, because she was at the glass for so long, but she'd informed him immediately that the glowing things in the back were very cool. 

The fact that there was the possibility for her to have one of her own made her very excited, and it wasn't too expensive either. Just to be safe that it wasn't lying to her Bryn took one of the black rocks in her hands and covered it, leaving a small crack open so she could look inside. It glowed a deep shade of violet that seemed to get lighter the darker it got. 

"Awesome," she whispered. 

That left her with one more rock to pick out. 

From across the store Peter chuckled softly at the sight of Bryn stuck in the stone section of the store. Somehow he'd been hoping she would want to pick out a shirt or something, but at the same time knew she would go straight for the thing she liked more than anything else. She'd probably pick out the most inexpensive ones as well. 

No matter how many times they reminded her that she could spend more, that it was okay because they had money and could always get more she insisted she was fine with cheap. Or perhaps it was because all she ever wanted was a cool rock, and they were usually cheaper than flashy toys anyway. 

"What are you getting?" Peter asked when he came across Rocket in the clothing section. 

The little guardian was holding a green pullover hoodie that looked very similar to the creature Bryn had announced was her most favorite. There were sharp white cloth teeth around the hood and rust colored orange eyes stitched onto the top of it alongside a two tentacle like ears. The sleeves had little claws at the ends while the back of it sported the same eel like tail. 

"It was her favorite one," Rocket explained with a shrug. "It even has a pocket for her to carry her rocks around." 

"I got her one too," Peter replied sheepishly. 

He held up a grey jacket with a white tummy that Bryn would be able to zip and unzip if she wanted to take it off. The hood was also lined with teeth and sported beady black eyes on the top of it, but ended in a point like a shark fin. 

"Is that the thing from Terra that got beat by fruit?" Rocket mused. 

"Yes, just in case she gets home sick," he explained. 

"It doesn't have pocket though," the little guardian smirked. "She'll like mine better." 

"I don't care," he muttered. "Mine comes with socks." He held them revealed them for Rocket to see. They were small cloth sharks with their mouths open, and after Bryn put them on it would look like they were eating her legs. They looked just long enough to poke out over the top of her boots. 

"The eyes glow in the dark," Rocket countered before Gamora cut them off. 

"I found Bryn some gloves," she said stopping in front of them. They were the same color as Rocket's hoodie and seemed to be made out of some strong material. "It will help to absorb any shock or friction she gets when she hits things," she explained. 

So far hers was the only thing they could see Bryn needing and could benefit her in some way. Peter and Rocket had been wrapped up in the simple need to dress her in clothing that had nothing do to with the Ravagers. While Gamora had been thinking about how to prevent the child from getting hurt again or finding trouble. 

"Plus they look like scales and change color in the light," she added. 

"Mine is better," Drax announced coming up behind them. 

Proudly, he thrust his find into their view. It was the same red color as the blob thing that he had liked in the aquarium. It was a bandana and a shirt combo. The bandana was printed with just eyeballs that looked this way and that while the shirt was completely crimson with eyes scattered all around it, they almost seemed to move on the fabric. 

"Did she even like that thing?" Rocket frowned. 

"She said it was cool," he assured them. Even though Peter was sure that Bryn had only said that because Drax liked it so much. 

"I found my things," Bryn called over to them. She ran up to them with a black rock and a seashell in her small hands, explaining that the one she had was called a conch. "And they aren't that expensive either," she grinned at them. 

"Why don't we let Peter buy them while we go get the ship ready to leave," Gamora said taking them carefully from her.  

The green skinned woman then looked over at Peter before glancing at their concealed clothing. It would probably be better if they gave Bryn the clothes the next morning, so she could pick what she wanted to wear. It was also because the child would sometimes try to talk them out of getting things for her. 

"Okay," she agreed before following Drax as he led the way to the Milano. Bryn waved at Rocket and Peter and then disappeared around a corner. 

"Should we wrap them?" Peter questioned the small guardian. 

Bryn lasted no more than half an hour once they'd all gotten back on the ship. She had been chattering excitedly about what they had seen and showing each one of them how her rock glowed in the dark. For about five minutes she was talking to Groot, telling him about a creature she thought he would've liked before they sat down together for a light snack before bed. It had taken most of the day to walk through all the rooms and see all the different planets, and though it wasn't quite time for bed yet Bryn looked ready to pass out. 

Which is exactly what she did, with her faintly glowing purple rock clutched tightly in her hands Drax carried her gently into her room. After she was tucked quietly into her bed they talked idly about which outfit she might wear first before changing to the topic of their next job and how Yondu might react to her wardrobe change. 

"She did it again," Rocket muttered walking to the table carrying Groot. 

"What?" Peter muttered as the little guardian sat at the table. 

"She gave her shell to Groot," he explained showing them. Groot had grown enough to lean down and grab at his newest possession, his small vine arms wrapping around the conch fondly.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The guardians fight about which piece of clothing Bryn likes best.

After receiving her new clothes Bryn tried to wear all of them at the same time for a while, although it very quickly became too warm for her with so many layers on at once. Peter and Rocket were curious as to which one she liked the best but the child insisted that they were all awesome and wouldn't tell them which one she liked the most. 

Currently she was wearing the grey shark jacket, the eyeball bandana, Gamora's gloves, a grey shirt, black shorts, and her black ravager boots. The night before she'd worn the green creature pullover just so she could run around with her hood glowing in the dark after they'd turned off all the lights. Another outfit she'd constructed consisted of Drax's monster shirt, the red ravager jacket and tan bandana, grey shorts, the gloves, and her boots. 

Gamora hadn't said anything yet, but Peter couldn't help but notice that out of everything Bryn had been given the one thing she always wore were the gloves. Surely the green skinned woman had smirked at some point and thought that she had won. Though it might just be the Terran and Rocket who had really cared about which clothing Bryn liked more. Certainly, the gloves were the most practical, but Bryn never looked cuter than when she was wearing the shark hood and running around with a grin on her face. That had to count for something right? 

"Well aren't you just adorable," a woman caught Bryn's attention. 

The guardians had been requested for a job the day before and had flown halfway across the galaxy to meet up with the alien who'd called out to them. Since it was just a talk that was happening Bryn was allowed to come, as there would be no fighting or any sort of danger involved. It certainly made the child excited to be included even if it wasn't anything big. 

Where they were meeting was planetside, and Peter had to stop Bryn from running off a couple times because of the landscape around them. She claimed it was very cool. 

He had to agree with her there. The greenery around them was lush and seemed to breathe with the wind as it whirled around them. Grey bark, that Bryn said matched the color of her skin, and leaves that looked as black as night. The grass, or whatever it was, at their feet was also a shade of darker grey while the sky above them shone pale green with soft lavender clouds. Rocket made a comment about how they'd have to find it later for Bryn's View-master, or they'd never hear the end of it from her. 

They'd been instructed to meet at a robot building warehouse that was half above ground and half buried underneath, a strange six armed woman with pale blue skin had been waiting outside for them. 

"You look awesome," Bryn gasped taking in the sight of the alien. 

Not only did Bryn say _cool_ a lot, her new favorite exclamation was _awesome_. Her new clothes were awesome, the gun Rocket made was awesome, and when Gamora beat someone up it was really awesome. 

"Oh," the woman chuckled. "Thank you." 

The child nodded in response and Peter offered a sort of apologetic smile. They'd all gotten used to her habits of talking to random aliens, or shying away from ones she thought looked strange. Yet they were always unprepared  for how ecstatic she got about the littlest things, like an alien with six arms for example. Although the one thing they never did was chide her for it, because it was just one of the things she did that made her who she was. 

"I bet you can beat a lot of people up," she continued. 

"Yep," the alien smiled fondly. 

Rocket said something to Bryn at that moment and successfully pulled her attention away from the alien so she and Peter could talk to each other. The woman explained that she was the assistant to the man that had requested them and gave him a short summary of what her employer was looking for. 

"He'll tell you more about it inside," she said before glancing at Bryn. "You should leave her with me," her stern voice caught them off guard. "G'sa hates children, and doesn't care for half-breeds." 

The woman had been careful enough to whisper this, just in case Bryn had been trying to listen to their conversation. It was something that the guardians encountered every once in a while, people who didn't like kids or half-breeds, and they always made sure that Bryn didn't speak to them. She'd been through enough in her life already, and didn't need anything, or anyone, else mucking it up. 

"When you say hate-," Peter started but she cut him off. 

"I can show her around outside, the meeting should only take around ten to fifteen minutes. G'sa doesn't like talking too much," she frowned. 

"That's fine," Gamora answered before Peter could say anything. "Drax can stay as well,  he's not much help during negotiations anyway," the green skinned woman sighed. Last time the larger alien had been present during a meeting he'd taken a joke completely out of context and threatened to kill their employer. 

"That is not true," Drax muttered before Bryn and the other woman led him away. 

For a moment Peter had thought Gamora was sending Bryn away with the assistant by herself and questioned her judgment. More often than not their child was always ready to go off with people who she deemed as nice or exciting, which wasn't always good for the guardians. As they viewed everyone with distrust until they'd gotten to know them properly, or decided they were harmless. 

"For a second I thought you were just handing Bryn over," Rocket muttered eyeing Gamora with a frown. 

"I don't trust that woman, especially not with our little girl," she grunted as they walked into the building. "I don't really trust anyone with her," she admitted. 

G'sa turned out to be a strange guy. He was as purple as the clouds in the sky just outside, had large yellow eyes that took up half his face, a small mouth, and no nose that they could find anywhere on his person. He was the same size as Peter and had four appendages just as they did, but his arms were so long they dragged on the ground when he wasn't paying attention. 

The odd alien wanted them to steal some parts from a larger facility so he could upgrade his robots enough to keep his planet protected from bandits. It was a valiant sort of request, and Rocket could almost hear Bryn's small voice exclaiming to them how cool it was for him to do that. He could also see the girl wanting to see the robots once they were finished and possibly see it in action. 

"Will you be taking that thing with you?" G'sa sighed as they turned to leave. 

"What thing?" Gamora snapped somehow already aware of what he was talking about. 

"The half-breed," he said with a sly smirk on his face. "It's rare, you know," he settled down into a chair. "Heorcthin's don't often mate with another race, their kind hates it."  

"Good thing she's with us then," Peter muttered before walking out. 

It was already clear to the guardians that Bryn wasn't accepted by her own kind, or half of her own kind anyway. Apparently her father had been the only one to protect her on the planet, because as soon as he was gone so was she. Gotten rid of so fast she couldn't even remember saying goodbye to her father before he passed away. 

Rare wasn't a word Peter liked to hear about the child. It made her sound like an item, or an almost extinct animal that was being sold at an auction. Meant that there was someone out there who would think she needed to be collected, and there had been at one point. 

"Can we never do business with him again after this is done?" Rocket questioned as they caught sight of Bryn running towards them.  

"Sounds good to me," the Terran agreed. 

Bryn was sad to leave the planet, the assistant had shown her some of the rocks on their planet after the child professed her love for them. Drax followed along with a laugh and vaguely explained to the woman that Bryn was a happy child who was strange. Said it with a big grin as if it actually made sense, which it didn’t.  

Leaving also meant that she was going to be dropped off at Yondu's the next morning so they could finish the mission without hassle. She was excited for this, but still wanted to explore the black and white forest that loomed at the edge of the robot factory more. 

"Are you going to show uncle Yondu your new clothes?" Peter asked once they were back in space. 

"Yeah," Bryn beamed as she packed her bag for a few days. 

"Which ones?" He continued. Rocket eyed him suspiciously from the table, the Terran was still trying to figure out if she liked his the best, even though he knew it was a lost cause. 

"All of them," she said making sure to pack her new glow in the dark rock.  

"Give it a rest Quill," the small guardian growled from the next room. "Mine has pockets, it wins." 

Peter looked at him exasperated for a moment before leaving Bryn to finish packing her things. It was an ongoing thing that Rocket and Peter had between each other when it came to the child. Who did she like better? 

.o.o. 

"Look uncle Kraglin, I'm a monster," Bryn cheered when they arrived.  

She'd chosen to wear Rocket's pullover, her ravager pants, black boots, the eyeball bandana, and Gamora's gloves. Whenever Bryn wore something that Drax had gotten for her he always grinned broadly as if he'd won some sort of contest. Peter was still convinced that the child only wore them to be nice to the large alien. 

The Xandarian had no idea what sort of creature Bryn was supposed to be, but she looked cute with the hood falling over her eyes as she beamed proudly up at him. The cast from last visit was gone, and as far as Kraglin could see there were no new injuries to speak of. After the past couple times that Bryn had shown up wounded Yondu had instructed the first mate to always check for bruises or cuts before letting the guardians leave. That way he could ask what happened before they took off. 

"Well I wouldn't say monster," Kraglin muttered watching Bryn's smile falter. "But you do look pretty scary," he saved himself. The child's face lit back up at his words and the first mate was reminded how easily she was to manage. 

"Is uncle Yondu busy?" She questioned after seeing him absent. 

"He said he'll meet us for lunch later," Kraglin explained.  

"Do you want to see my new rock?" Bryn, if possible, got even more excited. "It glows in the dark." 

Peter chuckled softly behind them, the child had shown them many times throughout the past couple days what color it was in different levels of light. By the second day they were all tired of it, but humored her regardless, although Drax shut her down at one point saying it was old news. 

"That sounds awesome," Kraglin grinned. 

"It is awesome," Bryn gasped, surprised that her uncle knew her new favorite word. 

"Well, why don't you go say goodbye to your family, and then you can show me," the Xandarian instructed. 

"Okay," she said quickly, running back to hug Rocket first. 

Taking the empty space next to Kraglin as an opportunity Peter walked over in order to talk to him. The first mate regarded him with the slightest expression of disdain on his face, but ultimately looked ready for a conversation. 

"We'll be gone for a few nights this time," Peter explained. "If she gets really antsy you can give her this," he handed Kraglin a small cartridge for the view-master. "It's a planet we just went to, she'll love it." 

"Captain has plans for her already," the first mate sighed as it if was an inconvenience. "Doubt she'll get bored with us." 

"Well," Peter tsked. "If she _does_ , at least we have it covered." 

"I think _we'll_ be fine," he gave the cartridge back.  

"Alright," Peter said sarcastically before Bryn hugged his legs from behind. He said goodbye to the child and wondered what Yondu could possibly have planned for them to do for the next three days. As long as it had something to with adventure, a new place, or rocks, they'd have Bryn's full attention. If anything, it was good that she was such an easy child to please.


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yondu and Kraglin take Bryn to finish up a mission.

Zeyka, like Kraglin, wasn't sure what Bryn was supposed to be. Most people, if any, didn't look up creatures from different planets in their spare time, it just didn't matter. He did make sure to tell her how cool she looked though, which made the child beam up at him proudly. Although he wasn't sure what she was supposed to be the doctor couldn't help but admit to himself that Bryn looked pretty cute with the hood up. The ears, or horns, whatever they were that dangled from the head swayed back and forth as she ran around the room and tried to describe what some of her favorite monsters had looked like. 

The tall alien was also happy to see that Bryn did not have any new injuries, at least as far as he could tell anyway. After the first few times Zeyka had worried constantly about whether or not the child was going to come back to them wounded or bruised. To her credit, Bryn was never one to complain about things like being tired or sore from something that had happened to her. But that didn't matter to the doctor, she was just a child. Kids are supposed to be protected, or at least cared for. 

She showed them her new rock a few times before Zeyka was following her nad Kraglin down to the mess hall for lunch. Yondu was already waiting for them at their usual table with a tray of food for the child, he smiled slyly at the sight of her new clothes. 

"Well look at you," the captain mused as Bryn ran up to him. "What'cha supposed to be, some kind of monster?" 

"Yes," she gasped. "How did you know?" 

"Your uncle's smart, that's why," he laughed as she sat down next to him. 

"We went to the fish place," Bryn explained as if they all knew exactly what she was talking about. 

"The fish place?" Zeyka muttered trying to figure out what she was saying. 

"Lot's of different fish, and monsters, all of them in tanks," she went on further. 

"You mean the Aquarium," Kraglin offered. A couple times he'd gotten bored and looked up things that kids liked to do, something they might be able to do with Bryn when she came back the next time. The place had popped up more than once, as well as something called a game station, but he wasn't quite sure what it was. 

"Yeah, that," she nodded at the first mate. 

"Did you see any scary ones?" Yondu teased. The Centaurian always thought it was sweet when Bryn was afraid because she would run to either him or Kraglin to hide. It certainly made him feel like no matter what it was Yondu could handle it. 

"At least ten," she thought about it for a moment. "One of them looked like it was as big as the ship, and another one was a lot of ones," her voice was suddenly panicked. 

The adults exchanged questioning glances as they thought about what Bryn could have meant, but knew that sometimes her sentences were jumbled together. Did it mean that there were more than ten monsters that were scary to her? Or one of them was many? Even that didn't make much sense. 

"They moved really fast and it was bright, and I didn't like it," she muttered the last part continuing to eat. 

"Was it fun?" Zeyka asked trying to change the subject away from things that scared her. Bryn nodded through a mouthful of food and tried to say something none of them understood. 

She then asked them what they had done while she was away, which surprised them for a moment. It must have been something she learned from the guardians because the child had never asked them such a thing before. Always excited to tell them about what she had done or where she wanted to go or what she had seen, but this was new. 

Yondu started telling her about a couple jobs they had went on, every once in a while the first mate would interrupt him before he let something slip about people dying or too many details. Kraglin told her about a new planet they went to and enjoyed the look of wonder on her face as she tried to imagine it for herself. It carried over to Zeyka who talked about how he'd snapped a couple dislocated bones back into place, for some reason the child was always so interested in what the orange alien did.  

The Centaurian left after lunch, explaining to Bryn that he still had some work to finish up, but that they would be taking her with them to finish up a mission tomorrow. Kraglin also had some work to finish up and left Bryn with Zeyka who was happy to show her how to wrap up an injury should anything happen to herself. 

It started with a simple bandage on her hand and escalated to showing her how to wash a cut or wound to make sure it didn't get infected while it healed. The tall alien hadn't been expecting her to be all that interested in keeping herself cared for, but Bryn was very eager to learn anything and everything he had to offer. By dinner time she was asking about how she might be able to put her own dislocated shoulder back into place, but Zeyka had to brush her off at that point. Hoping that it would never come to that with her. 

Kraglin and Yondu were there for dinner and then afterwards the first mate showed Bryn a gun he had been working on before they went to bed. The Xandarian only half remembered seeing the child walk into his room that night and lifting up the covers for her to crawl inside. He'd grown used to waking up and seeing her there next to him when she visited. In fact, after the guardians picked her up he'd find himself waking up at the smallest of noises and expecting to see her there. 

Sometimes it made him laugh, to think about how much Bryn had changed their daily routine without even realizing it.  

"I get to go with you today right?" Bryn asked at breakfast the next morning. Her face was full of excitement and Yondu couldn't miss the air of happiness about her, if the smiles were anything to go by. 

"Yep," he answered simply. 

"Awesome," she grinned. "Where are we going?" 

"Knowhere," Yondu said before getting up and walking away. Bryn scrunched up her face in confusion, looking at Kraglin to see that the first mate was trying to hold back a smile after seeing her expression. She'd opted out of her new clothes for the set of ravager red ones that Yondu had gotten for her last time, except for the bandana which instead of being tan was covered in eyeballs. 

"I don't get it," she mumbled glancing over to see if Kraglin understood.  

"But it's so easy," the Xandarian replied making her look even more disturbed by her own ignorance. For a second it looked like she wanted to say something else but her mouth closed and she moved to follow the captain without another word. The first mate always had fun picking on her, especially because most of the time she didn't even know that he was doing it. 

In the past couple weeks the Ravagers had been tracking and retrieving a piece of antique treasure from a planet that was abandoned years ago. It had been home to a race of aliens whose original home world had been destroyed and so they moved from planet to planet trying to find a suitable replacement. At the end of it all the alien race was wiped out after their fifth move and the artefact was seemingly lost forever. 

It's been tricky to track down anyone who had information on it, but the payoff was very large. After the infinity stone had opened on Knowhere and destroyed his museum the Collector had been requesting things from far and wide in order to build it back up to what it once had been. The thing they'd gotten their hands on was worth around sixty thousand, though the collector had offered them seventy if they brought it directly to them. 

After learning that the guardians had taken Bryn to an Aquarium Yondu felt the need to do better than them and take the child to a place that would be even cooler than a bunch of creatures in tanks. 

During the flight over Bryn went back to a personal favorite of Kraglin's. The man who was stranded in the snow planet had apparently traveled further from the crash sight than he normally did in order to find his missing shoes. 

"He found some socks in a cave, but they were frozen so he couldn't put them on," she rambled making the first mate chuckle. 

"Can't he just make a fire and thaw them?" The Xandarian questioned. 

"He crash landed, he doesn't have anything to burn," Yondu countered. The captain then wondered for a moment how he even remembered what was going on in the story, Bryn hadn't mentioned it in a couple weeks now. Which meant he listened to her more than he listened to most of his crew mates. 

"Well he found some trees, but they were frozen too," Bryn  sighed as if she felt bad for the guy. 

"Has he found anything useful so far?" Kraglin glanced back at her to see that she was staring at the ground lost in thought. 

"The other day he found spoon, and he kept it so he can eat soup," she announced happily. 

"Makes sense," the Centaurian nodded as if it wasn't nonsense. "What if he found soup and he didn't have a spoon, he wouldn't be able to eat it then." Sometimes there were days when Bryn did nothing but make them want to laugh at her outrageousness, perhaps this was one of those days. 

"What kind of soup does he like?" The first mate mused. 

"Pumpkin," she replied simply. The adults looked at each other quizzically, neither one of them had any idea what a pumpkin was, but it sounded ridiculous. "But he hasn't found any yet." 

"Tragic life he has there," Yondu tsked while shaking his head. 

"Yup," Bryn agreed. 

When they finally made it to Knowhere Bryn was quiet while looking out the front of the ship, marveling at all the miners zipping through the air and the different lights below them. Yondu had explained what they were doing and how she was to stay next to them at all times, just like she'd done before.  

Kraglin had objected to Bryn coming along at first, because the door to the Collectors place was inside of a bar that they would have to wait inside. It certainly wasn't a place to take a child. Yet Yondu had insisted that he was sure they'd be okay as long as the child was next to them. If something did end of happening, or someone threatened them the captain promised he would take care of it. He'd even gone as far as opening his coat as if the first make needed to be reminded of the kind of weapon he had hiding underneath. Mentioning that Bryn would probably be excited anyway. 

She was, at first. Initially the small alien was very curious and wonder struck with the bar and all the people surrounding her, but after a rather large and big alien peered down at her she was hiding behind the Xandarian's legs. Making the first mate glower slightly at Yondu, if the Collector kept them waiting any longer Kraglin was going to take Bryn back to the ship and the captain could finish the deal alone. 

"Sir Yondu, I'm here to fetch you for my master," a yellow skinned woman with short green hair caught their attention. 

"You look cool, what's your name?" Bryn, undeterred by the questioning looks they were getting, asked the alien with a grin on her face. 

"You don't have to answer that," Yondu muttered as she led them away. 

The Ravagers had been there a couple weeks prior while they were making the deal about how much he was willing to pay for the artifact, so it was nothing new for them. Kraglin walked forward to follow them into the main observation area that had been repaired to match the previous one almost exactly. Already it was filled with hundreds of display cases that held different species of aliens and animals that he'd never seen before and didn't care about. 

"My master will speak to you up there," the woman explained before disappearing down another path. 

They'd already passed a few cases, and much to Kraglin's surprise Bryn was very quiet. He'd been expecting the child to ask him questions about what was in each case or point out things that she thought were cool. All that happened was the feeling of her small hand grabbing at his pants and slowing to a stop as Yondu walked on. 

Looking down at her the first mate could tell that something was wrong almost immediately. Bryn was shaking slightly and had moved very close to the Xandarian's legs as if something had threatened her. 

"What's wrong?" Kraglin asked suddenly aware of all the locked up specimen around them, leering down to see who had come in to talk to the master. 

"I don't like it here," she whimpered glancing around frantically. 

"Why?" He tried to soften his voice for her. Bryn looked away from his gaze, as if she was ashamed to be so weak in front of him, or embarrassed by her fear. One glance at another case had her hugging the Xandarian's legs tightly, like she did when they said goodbye. 

"Sometimes he'd keep us in cages."


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bryn meets the Collector.

For a split second Kraglin had no idea what Bryn was talking about, and then he was angry, worried, and anxious all at once. The child caught sight of something looking at her through the glass and whined softly before smashing her face into his legs and gripping his pants tightly with her tiny hands. He'd read as much as he could about what had happened to her while she was with the Gatherer, but the files and reports didn't have everything. Things like everyday life for the kids was left out, because none of them had wanted to talk about what he'd made them do to each other. Even Bryn, happy as she always was, still had nightmares about it sometimes. 

Every once in a while, at night, the first mate would be roused awake. Groggy with sleep he could barely make out the shape of Bryn sitting up slowly and glancing around as if looking for someone in the dark. Then she'd see him next to her and fall back asleep, moving a little bit closer to his side. 

It made the Xandarian bitter with hatred to see her in such a state below him, they thought this was something that would make her smile in wonder. Yet she was cowering in fright. 

"You know he can't get you anymore, not when we're here," Kraglin tried to calm her down. In the past, when she woke from a nightmare, reminding her that she was protected always seemed to relax her. 

"I know," her small voice was muffled by his pants. 

He felt bad, for trying to urge her forward into the area that she already seemed to hate so much, but they still had a deal to complete.  Although Yondu could very much finish it off by himself the captain had wanted to show Bryn how to haggle and deal with clients. The Centaurian wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he wanted the child to be more like a Ravager than a guardian. He figured they treated her better anyway, she certainly never broke her arm when she was with them at least. 

"Drax told me to be strong and I'm trying," she said. At this point she looked up at him with a determined but still slightly sad expression on her face. "But I'm scared. Will uncle Yondu hate me if I'm weak?" 

"Maybe," Kraglin muttered before immediately regretting it.  

Most of the time when the first mate said something mean it was in a teasing manner when Bryn was worked up about something trivial. She always looked at him accusingly before realizing it was a joke and grumbling about how uncool it was of him. But this time, for a moment, she looked ready to cry before frowning deeply and staring up at him defiantly. 

"Then I won't be weak, I can do this," she let go of him immediately. The first mate wanted to correct himself and tell her that Yondu would probably never hate her, but she was already walking on ahead of him. Though Kraglin had noticed the quiver in her lips as she did her best not to look around. 

"You're being very brave," he started to follow her. 

She didn’t answer him and instead kept her head down until they reached Yondu and the Collector, and only then did she look up nervously at the Captain who merely grinned down at her. Kraglin eyed the white haired man in front of him, wondering faintly what Bryn thought of him and if she would say anything. 

"I like your jacket, it looks soft," she finally looked up at him. 

"Well thank you, little one," he said looking at her more closely. "I've never seen one like you before, are you mixed?" 

Bryn withered at his question, turning her gaze back to Kraglin with a worried expression in her eyes. The Xandarian felt much of the same way while Yondu grunted next to them, unaware of how on edge the child was just by being there. 

"She's learning the trade," the captain muttered pulling out the artefact.  

"Well, with skin like that," the Collector motioned towards her black hands and white face. "She'd make a great addition to my collection," he spoke as if trying to strike a bargain. 

"I can go somewhere else with this," Yondu growled trying to get the topic off the little alien. 

"How would you like to get paid?" The man tsked moving towards a table. 

 The captain followed him and Kraglin took a step forward as well before seeing that Bryn wasn't moving again. He'd been holding his breath during her interaction with the Collector, flinching when he mentioned adding her to his hoard. It was exactly the type of talk she didn’t need to hear, especially if she was afraid of being locked up again. 

Kraglin turned to look at her and didn't like what he saw one bit. Bryn was shaking again, her frown beginning to straighten out as she took short breaths in order to calm herself down as best she could. Her hands, which had been clenched into tiny fists, were nervous and trembling as she fidgeted with her clothing in order to keep herself occupied. 

"Bryn," he spoke to her softly. 

"I'll be good, I'll be good, don't hate me-," she jerked up to look at him. Her eyes were watery and frantic now, making the first mate ache painfully just at the sight of her, as if he was there to sell her or something. A small hand reached up to grasp at the bottom of his jacket, she was standing on her tip-toes just to make sure she was close to him. "Don't get rid of me, I'll be good." 

"Why would we get rid of you?" He questioned, suspicious of how she came to such a conclusion. 

"Because I'm mixed, I wasn't meant to be," her voice was breaking now. 

"Who told you that?" Kraglin growled suddenly angry. Bryn stiffened below him, his sharp voice surprising her for a moment before a lone tear streaked down her cheek that she was quick to wipe away. "No, I'm not angry at you." 

"My dad told me," she whispered looking away from him in shame. 

The Xandarian felt like breaking something in rage. Sometimes when he looked at the child he imagined her a few years younger, being ripped away from her grandparents after they sold her. He'd have to calm himself down before he was able to do anything. Initially Bryn was a bother to him, just a child he was sure to ignore and pretend to care about. But after all that had happened he'd gotten attached to the girl, he felt responsible for her and wondered how she was with the guardians. He hadn't expected to feel this way when she was hurt, or when she was scared, but he did. 

She was so small below him, so miserable and defeated, yet still trying to push herself along. He could protect her for now, and teach her to be strong later. 

"Bryn," she turned her head towards his voice. A few more tears had strolled down her cheeks and made faint trails on her grey skin. "Make sure you hold on," he said before picking her up. Her arms wrapped around his neck while he supported her with one arm under her bottom. Making sure she was balanced on the left side of his torso before he walked over to where Yondu and the Collector were talking. 

The Centaurian glanced at the two of them before staring fully at the odd couple with a curious look on his face. Kraglin had never carried Bryn before, in fact Yondu was the only one of them to ever pick her up to set her on things or if she was trying to reach something. The first mate was always reluctant to do so, for some reason. 

"What is it?" Yondu asked as the Collector walked away to retrieve something. 

"We'll meet you back at the ship," was all Kraglin said. He then turned around and started to walk back the way they had come from. Bryn caught the captains stare for a second, and he took in her wet cheeks and frightened expression with bitter confusion before the child hid her face on the first mate's shoulder. 

"What the hell?" He mumbled trying to figure out what might have happened. 

"Uncle Yondu won't like me anymore, will he?" Bryn almost cried into the Xandarian's chest. 

"He still likes you," Kraglin assured her. He pat her on the back gently, trying to mirror what he'd seen other people do with children. She was lighter than he had expected her to be, but it was still weird to hold someone in his arms and tell them that everything was going to be okay. If anything it made the first mate want to guard Bryn even more. 

From where he was Yondu couldn't catch what the two were saying to each other, but knew immediately that he wanted to finish off the deal as fast as possible. All he needed was for the Collector to come back with his bounty and then they would trade the artefact for money and be on his way. 

When Bryn was dropped off to them injured there was a certain amount of anger that Yondu experienced as he imagined what might have happened to wound her. It made him burn with rage to think about how the guardians could have ignored her and how he could take much better care of her. As long as she was smiling it meant they'd done a good job, yet she'd been crying. It made the Centaurian confused. Had Kraglin said something unkind to her, was there something about this place that frightened her, or was it something he had said? 

The Collector didn't question his hastened pace and merely smirked at his fast retreat back towards the bar. At the moment he didn't even care about the money, or artefact for that matter. All Yondu could think about was what might have gone wrong to make Bryn look so sad and hope that she was okay. 

As soon as he got back into his ship Yondu had figured whatever happened it was something that Kraglin had done to the child, and he was ready to yell at the man. Before he even took his second step into the living area Bryn was hugging his legs and smashing her face into his pants. 

"Please don't hate me uncle Yondu," her muffled voice made him falter. The first mate walked into view with an unhappy expression on his face, as if it was his fault that Bryn was distressed. "I tried to be brave, I did." 

"What are you talking about?" He questioned not catching what was going on. "I don't hate you." 

"Really?" She looked up at him with newly wet eyes. 

"Why were you scared?" He asked taking in her frantic and worried expressions. 

"I didn't like the box-, cage-, cases they were in," she stuttered in the middle trying to find the right word. "He used to put me in one when I misbehaved, it was always so dark. I didn't like it," she whispered the last few words.  

At this point she looked away from him, letting go of his legs hesitantly as if she had just realized her mistake. Yondu shifted his attention to Kraglin for a few moments to see a somewhat blank expression on his face, it was one the Captain knew meant he was pissed off at something. The first mate caught his stare and held it until the Centaurian moved to stare down at Bryn again. 

"That's okay," Yondu grinned crouching down to her level. "Next time you don't like something just tell us, don't try to fight it by yourself," he grunted. "Okay?" He repeated when Bryn didn't say anything. 

"Okay," she nodded looking at him again. 

"Good," he replied before ruffling her hair. She giggled softly at the action and made both men sigh softly in relief that she could still laugh. "Is there anywhere you want to go?" 

"Home, I want to tell Zeyka about the man in the snow," she mumbled wiping at her eyes. For how frightened she was Bryn sure bounced back fast, though Kraglin was sure she would have nightmares about it later. 

"Home with us?" Kraglin said catching their attention. She nodded and then looked at Kraglin stiffly wondering if she'd said something wrong. The first mate had a grin on his face that the captain mirrored before responding. 

"Let's go home then."


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yondu and Kraglin think about family.

After what happened with the Collector Bryn seemed mostly okay for the rest of the day, and even neglected to tell Zeyka that she had been frightened of the place. It was something that Kraglin had noticed of the girl within the first few weeks of caring for her. If something happened with someone and she got hurt, even if it was the other person's fault or they had something to do with it. She'd never tell on them, in fact, it was usually her fault when she told the story. 

She didn't tell the doctor that the first mate and Yondu had brought her to the Collector, or that Kraglin had urged her to push through it if she could. Bryn's response to everything had been very simple. 

"I didn't like it," was all that she said. 

"Why not?"Zeyka had asked. "Was he mean to you?" 

"No, but I think he wanted to buy me, and I'm not for sale," she'd muttered. Kraglin ginned sheepishly at her comment, on the way back from the Collector Yondu had assured Bryn that they would never get rid of her. 

The Centaurian hated that he hadn't known what was happening during their visit. He'd been so caught up in leading them further and further into the building, so Bryn could see everything, that he hadn't noticed she wasn't following. He left Kraglin to watch over Bryn for the rest of the day while he sorted himself out in his office while finishing up some other work that needed attending. 

Bryn's face continued to pop into his head the rest of the day, her wet cheeks and scared expression weighing heavily in his mind as he muttered bitterly of his ignorance to the situation. Kraglin had filled him in on everything that had happened before he'd picked her up and walked back to the ship. Apparently the child had immediately shown signs of distress and fear about where they were, but the first mate was torn because the Yondu had been excited for her to see everything and urged her forward. 

It boiled down to the captain wanting to come out on top of Bryn's list. The guardians had taken her to the Aquarium and she'd been very excited to tell them all about and show her rock off to anyone who cared to see. He'd wanted her to be just as enthralled with something that they had brought her to, and hadn't considered that Bryn might not like it, or that it might be too close to something else she had experienced. Although Kraglin had been hesitant initially, it was Yondu that pushed it through. 

Which was irritating because it was his fault. He didn't like being responsible for something that happened to the child, just seeing that look on her face had been enough for him to want to drop everything and follow. It made him want to laugh in confusion, Bryn wasn't supposed to be someone he cared about. She was just a paycheck, should just have been a simple one and done paycheck. Yet he couldn't stand it when she was injured, and hated wondering if she was okay during the week when she went back with the guardians. 

Even Kraglin had shown signs of feeling the same way, and it changed the way they worked. Sometimes they'd be requested for a job that Yondu would normally take and deal with personally, but then Peter would call. The Captain would pass it off on someone else or try to get it done quickly so they'd be available for Bryn to be dropped off and spend time with her while she was there. He wanted to teach her things and make sure that she knew how the world worked, and it sucked. 

Without even realizing it he'd accepted the role of uncle and family member, along with Kraglin, and he didn't even care. Bryn was one of them now, and he wanted to do right by her. 

Maybe the next time they took her to a surprise place it would just be a place with different types of rocks in it. If such a place even existed in the first place. Perhaps they'd go tomorrow as a way of making it up to Bryn for taking her to a place of nightmares. 

"Did you finish all your work?" Bryn asked Yondu at dinner.  

She'd spent the remainder of the day hanging out with Kraglin and Zeyka who entertained her by playing hide and seek in the cargo bay and then testing out some of the guns. She still wasn't allowed to touch any of the weapons, but was excited all the same to watch them destroy objects and zip around the room. 

"I did," the captain nodded glancing at Kraglin who looked satisfied. 

"That's good," she nodded while poking at her food. "Working for too long is boring." 

"Why do you say that?" Zeyka cut into the conversation. Yondu had smirked at her remark, forever amused by her strange comments that were most of the time out of context. 

"Sometimes when Rocket has worked all day long he threatens to shoot Drax and gets mad when he drops me," she explained. Kraglin and the Centaurian exchanged suspicious expressions, did that mean the large alien was dropping her on purpose all the time? "I didn't want you to be angry," she muttered the last part softly. 

"Who would I get angry at?" Yondu played along. 

"I dunno," she replied. "Oh," her little hands slammed on the table as she gasped. "That engine dude who made me step in a hole. You could get mad at him," she stated, proud of herself for remembering. 

"Do you want me to be mad at him?" He questioned. 

It was quiet for a moment while Bryn thought over her response and options, since she'd been to the engine room the alien hadn't really caused her anymore trouble. Although that was mostly because she hadn't seen him in a while, and she was sure that if they crossed paths again he would try to scare her.. Which she wasn't a fan of at all. 

"No, only if he bugs me again, only if you want to," she rattled. "You don’t have to, just don't work that much and it won't matter," she faded off. 

"I'll keep that in mind." 

"Okay," she finished before tucking into her meal. 

While Bryn was asking Zeyka some questions about his job and whether or not he was angry at the end of the day Yondu spoke to Kraglin about what he had been contemplating during the past few hours. The first mate had had much of the same thoughts while watching her run around cheerfully as if that morning had never happened. Of course, he was also worried about what would happen that night when Bryn was trying to go to sleep, would she even be able to? 

"I found a rock museum that we can take her to tomorrow," the captain whispered the word.  

Sometimes if 'rock' was even muttered in a sentence Bryn was all over the person who spoke, asking if they liked big ones or little ones, or if they'd ever found one that glowed. They'd learned early on not to mention a collection of rocks to her because she went on and on about her own horde back on the Milano. Yondu felt like it was something Peter should have told them, or warned them about. Bryn was great, but he could only fake interest for so long. 

"Or," Kraglin caught the alien's attention. "Since I have some work to finish up tomorrow, you could show her how to build a blaster. She won't shut up about wanting her own someday, and I'm sure if you were to help her she'd love it," he explained. 

"So she can shoot herself in the foot?" The Centaurian scoffed at him. 

"If you teach her how to hold a gun and when to fire it, she won't," he muttered giving him a slightly irritated stare. "Most of all, Bryn just wants to make us happy, or curious. She's always trying to make sure we're entertained anyway, what with her stories and all." 

"True," Yondu nodded. He hadn't thought much of it before but Kraglin was right. Bryn was almost always excited for anything that they threw her way, whether it was walking around the ship or even just sitting in their office. As long as she was with them and they weren't mad at her she was content. 

"As long as you watch her, she should be fine," the Xandarian shrugged. 

"She wants to see my room," Zeyka caught their attention. Bryn had already gotten out of her seat and was holding onto the tall alien's fingers with her hand with a wide eyed grin on her face. "I'll make sure to take her back to her room at bedtime." 

"Alright, have fun," Yondu said with a laugh. 

Whenever they walked past a part of the ship Bryn hadn't seen before she'd pause in front of it and look hopefully up at whichever person she was with. Kraglin would usually notice immediately that she wasn't following, as he listened to her footsteps behind him, and turn to corral her back down the path. If she was really interested Yondu would let her poke her head inside and then remind her that the faster he finished the faster she would get to explore. Zeyka just stared at her until she caught his expression and continued on their way. 

The fact that she had yet to walk in the doctor's room was big business and Kraglin could barely imagine the thoughts that might be racing through her mind about the mysteries that the orange alien's room held. 

Zeyka returned her just in time for bed and this time Yondu was waiting for her just outside her room in order to say goodnight. Bryn's face lit up in excitement upon seeing him there, usually the captain would tell her good night before he left after dinner. There was either work to finish or things with the crew to take care of that called for his attention, although the child was happy to wish him a pleasant sleep all the same. 

It was nice of the Centaurian to do so, Kraglin chuckled lightly at the sight of Bryn waving vigorously at Yondu as he walked away, knowing that in a short while she would be sneaking into his own room. The little alien always had some form of nightmares that made her whimper in her sleep, and that was from what had happened a year ago. After an event like today the girl was sure to experience dreams she hadn't in a long time. 

Most of the time Kraglin was already asleep when she walked out of the darkness into the dim light of his room, and he'd rouse awake to see her move to her usual spot next to him. But that didn’t happen, the first mate was too worried about Bryn to sleep it off. 

What if she walked into the room crying? If she had had a horrific nightmare of a dream that had her shaking with fear he wanted to be awake to make sure she was okay. One thing stuck with him throughout the day, while he'd been carrying her back to the ship Bryn had been shivering terribly for about a minute. Then she stopped and more or less hung limp in his arms, as if she'd simply given up. It made him wonder if she had done the same thing during the time that she was with the Gatherer, and he didn't like it one bit. 

He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that Bryn opened the door without him noticing for a few seconds. She moved immediately towards her spot and the movement caught Kraglin's attention enough to catch the expression on her face. It looked different from her usual looks of worry or fear, instead of seeming like she'd just had a nightmare she just appeared to be exhausted. 

"Did you dream about the cages?" Kraglin asked in a mere whisper. She nodded next to him, her face set in a blank stare as she settled down next to him and clutched her blanket like a lifeline.  

"He came on the ship and hurt you and uncle Yondu, and I tried to fight him but he got me and locked me away again," she explained. At the mention of him being in the dream Bryn looked up at him with a defiant fire in her eyes that died away as quickly as it had ignited. 

"We wouldn't let him take you away, you know that right?" He assured her. It was a recurring thing with Bryn, to tell her that she was safe and no one could take her, yet he didn't blame her for forgetting. A year alone, months she had spent with the guy who wanted to break her, it was understandable that she was still afraid. 

"I didn't care about that," she surprised him. "He hurt my family, he's never done that before. I couldn't protect you, he should've hurt me instead," she whimpered. 

This was another shocker to Kraglin, as the man had never expected Bryn to get angry at something she had seen in a dream. He and the captain were strong, they wouldn't allow anyone to hurt them and certainly not their girl, but to her it must've been really frightening. 

"You don't have to worry about that," he smiled warmly at her. "Your uncle Yondu is really strong and can beat anyone, and so can I. Even Peter would never let anything happen to you." 

"Because we're family right?" She replied hopefully. It was the only thing she had wanted for a long time, a family, somewhere to belong with people who loved her. On the other hand Kraglin had never considered himself a part of a family, perhaps only as a child, in the Ravagers there was a sort of crew feeling. Probably the closest he'd come to a real family in a long time, but with Bryn in the mix now, it was different. 

"That's right, we're family."


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yondu thinks about he future.

"Really?" Bryn questioned him with a giant grin on her face. 

Yondu had just told the girl that today he was going to help her build her own blaster, or at least watch her struggle for the better part of the day. Kraglin had already eaten lunch and listened to Bryn babble about how awesome of a family they were and then excused himself to finish up some work. At first, Bryn had gotten up to follow, because she had been with him for the first half of the day, but then stopped at the sound of her name coming from the Captain. 

"I'll show you how to do it the first time and then you can try by yourself," he explained.  

During breakfast the first mate had filled the Centaurian in on what had happened during the night with the child. He was thankful that Kraglin had shown quick thinking and gave her comfort every night, but at the same time wished that she looked at him the same way she looked at the Xandarian. Perhaps after today her expression would change. 

"Then," she started to speak but seemed not able to keep up with herself. "if I build it right, will you let-, does that mean I can go on missions with you?" 

"No," Zeyka cut into their conversation firmly. 

"But I've been better," she protested before Yondu could respond. "I haven’t gotten hurt in a while, and if I have a blaster then I'll be able to shoot back," her small voice  tried to reason with them. 

The Captain thought about it for a moment, and imagined Bryn hiding behind a rock or something while gun shots blazed around her in angry lines of red. It made him angry just to think about who might be shooting at her, and why she was even there in the first place. If she didn't already get hurt and injured she'd be standing up and firing back, or hesitating. He could see her hand shaking at she aimed it at someone, afraid to pull the trigger, afraid to kill. 

"No, you're not old enough yet," he finally  said as the doctor stared at him. "I'll keep the gun for you." 

"How old do I have to be?" She questioned eyeing him hopefully. 

"You're seven right?" He asked watching her face scrunch up. 

"Almost eight," she held up the correct amount of fingers and stared at him defiantly.  Bryn was almost the age Peter had been when they'd picked him up, and even then the boy had waited a few years to even get into Ravager training. He'd probably be hearing her complain about the gun for a long time, but he could deal with that as long as she was safe in the long run. "My birthday is in two weeks." She explained. 

With that comment Zeyka eyed Yondu with a curious expression. They hadn't talked about it specifically, but each of them had wondered about what to get the girl for her birthday and if they should celebrate it or not. The girl in question would be happy with anything they could manage, she always was, but Kraglin had mentioned wanting to do something special, or something she would consider 'super cool'. 

"When you're ten we'll start training you to be a Ravager," he said watching for the doctors reaction. The orange alien didn’t offer much of an expression which meant it was a good age to start. 

"But that's so far away," she whined standing on the bench in order to make herself taller. "Will I even be alive at that point?" 

"Of course you will," Yondu guffawed. 

"Why wouldn't you be?"Zeyka countered. He set her with a deep stare that made the girl shrink away, he'd gotten quite good at making her do things with just an expression. 

"Because I'll die of old age," she stomped one of her little feet as if it was an important matter. 

She must have heard it from one of the Guardians, but either way the comment had Yondu and the doctor looking at each other in confusion before grinning and exchanging some laughter. Below them Bryn seemed to think that they were making fun of her soon to be death and turned away from them with a grumpy expression. 

"Do you want to build a gun or not?" The Captain questioned of her suddenly. 

"I want to!" She jerked back to look at him suddenly. 

"Well you can only do that if you promise to wait until you're ten for the rest of it," he said. Bryn looked thoughtful at first before sighing in defeat. 

"I promise." 

"Good, let's go," he moved away after nodding towards the tall alien who was still eating. After a few steps he heard the child yell goodbye to her doctor friend before the sound of her jumping to the ground could be heard. Then she was walking next to him, trying to figure out which room they would end up in by the direction of their commute. She tried to guess for a little while but stopped after her supply of answers had been maxed out, mostly because she'd only remembered about five places. 

They ended up in the gun storage room where the Captain grabbed an old little blaster that was easy to take apart and put back together. She looked at it in wonder, probably imagining how it could be disassembled and then which ways each part went where. Her eager face looked up at him expectantly, as if he was going to hand it to her right away to take apart herself, which wasn't the case. After retrieving the gun Yondu led them back towards his work space, so they wouldn't be disturbed throughout the day. 

The first time through the Centaurian realized he'd probably done it a little too fast, as Bryn was giving him a sort of amazed, yet blank stare. He smirked at her dumbfounded expression before going through it a little slower the second time around, at the same time explaining each step he was taking and why it worked. At one point she pointed out a part that she knew and where it went, saying that Rocket let her watch when he was working on guns and answered her questions every once in a while. 

"Does he let you play with the guns?" He asked silently judging the guardian before she even answered. 

"Never," she muttered in a disappointed voice. "He only lets me keep the broken pieces because they can't cause any damage." 

"Good," Yondu whispered under his breath.  

There were times when the Centaurian seriously doubted the other crew's ability to raise Bryn correctly, and even considered telling them what should be done with the child. For the most part he was okay with their way of instructing her on what to do. Bryn was well behaved and didn't throw tantrums like he'd seen other children do. At times the Captain could even imagine what it was like on the Milano simply because she tended to repeat comments and mannerisms that the guardians repeated. He did want to raise the girl as a Ravager, and couldn't wait to bring her along on missions or show her the coolest parts of the galaxy like they'd done when Peter was younger.  

Yet there was a problem that arose with this as well. One of the best things about the girl was her innocence and happiness to do the smallest of things with the people she loved. What would happen once they started showing her the ways of their group? So far, no matter what had happened to her, she was excited and happy to do new things, even boring things, everyday. Even when she'd broken her arm or gotten a black eye all she wanted to do was show her uncles and tell them the story of how it had happened. 

They'd have to be careful and choosy about what they exposed her to if they wanted to keep her positive behavior consistent. 

It was quiet for about an hour while Yondu worked and Bryn did her best to piece the blaster back together again. He'd been expecting her to be asking him questions every five minutes or so about what went where and if she was doing everything correctly or not, but the only noise was the small clinking of the parts. Then there was a long sigh from the child and the sound of her small footsteps as she walked over to him with what she had managed to do by herself. 

"Where does this piece go?" She asked in a mere whisper. Why she felt the need to whisper was beyond him, but her small voice made him smile as he looked down at what she had accomplished so far. 

"Let's see," he muttered picking it up to inspect. Half of it looked right and had Yondu nodding in approval while the rest was unfinished, the pieces still clutched in Bryn's small hands.  

"Is the rest of it okay?" She questioned, looking up at him with a hopeful expression. If he were Kraglin the answer would be sarcastic and somewhat mean, just to get a rise out of her. Yondu could just imagine the way her face would scrunch up in disappointment or defiance at his jab at her. 

"It looks good," he said instead.  

"Awesome," she mumbled sounding impressed. 

"Come here," Yondu said putting down the blaster and picking her up under her arms. If she was taller and able to see on top of his desk it would have been easier to show her what the next step was and help her along. But her head was barely the same height as counter, which meant she could see almost nothing of what was on top of it. Placing her in his lap he motioned for her to drop the rest of the parts and then picked up the one they would need next. "Where do you think this goes?" 

"I thought it went right there," she picked up the gun and showed him. "But it doesn't fit, and I tried this spot as well, but it didn't work either." 

"Why don't you try it the first way again," he handed her the piece back before leaning back in his chair. Bryn looked at him quizzically, slowly moving it back to where she had tried it before and giving it a push, but it still didn’t fit. Glancing back at him to protest the child was met with a blank stare, so she tried it again but at a different angle. 

Yondu watched her mess around with it, trying different angles and positions that might let the piece enter where it was supposed to go. He picked her up a lot more often than Kraglin did, usually to set her on things that she wouldn't be able to get up to otherwise, but never onto his lap. In fact he'd wondered what the first mate had been thinking while carrying her away the day before, how her small arms had wrapped around his neck. 

From the months that they had been taking care of Bryn the child hadn't changed much, if at all, in size. Zeyka had even told them that her father's side of the family never got past a certain size, and the tallest she might get was five feet, which meant she could be small for a long time. Even Peter had mentioned something about her being shorter than what was usual for most Terran children. That was okay with them though, it meant she would be easier to handle, because if something was wrong she was easy to pick up. And her small stature was very cute. 

"I got it," she cheered as the piece popped back in place. 

"Do you know what the next one is?" 

"This one," her hand found the next piece. Yondu nodded down at her, grinning at her simple joy.  

Usually when Bryn was with him while he was working he paid her very little attention, Kraglin was the one that played her games. The Captain had never felt the urge to be involved in such childish games, but also wanted to spend time with her when she came to lunch happy beyond belief. Only now did he stop to watch her completely as she sat on his left knee and leg, her hair tickling his chin slightly. With his help she was able to reach up and grab things from the desk, her arms reaching out every so often as she picked up the wrong piece. 

He had realized it before, that Bryn was a Ravager now and he wanted to make sure that she grew up all right. Yet a new feeling seemed to erupt inside of him as he thought about what the future had in store for her, and that no matter what, they had to preserve her happiness. 

"Uncle Yondu I'm done, does it look good?" She had such a triumphant look on her face the Captain wanted to laugh. Again he thought of what Kraglin might say to the child, and decided at the last second to follow his lead. 

"No, it sucks."


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The adults plan a party and argue about gifts.

Bryn was thrumming with excitement the next day, waiting for the guardians to come get her so she could tell Rocket about the blaster that she repaired. She wanted to show him that she had been listening all those times that he'd taken her into the engine room or let her watch while he made a new weapon. It was important that he knew, because it meant that he was important, and she was somewhat hoping he'd let her make another one. 

On either side of her stood Kraglin and Yondu who were also waiting for Peter and the rest of them to arrive, but for a different reason. Waiting on standby was Zeyka, the Captain explained what was going to happen and that he would be in charge of watching Bryn while the adults discussed things for a little while. Usually the Guardians would duck out pretty fast after picking up the child which was understandable. Just because their kid had fun with her uncles didn't mean the rest of them had to get along as if they were friends. 

As soon as the door opened Bryn was running towards Rocket as if he was the only one there, although Drax was quick to pick her up as he always did. Lifting her in the air as she flailed and babbled about the day before and how Yondu had said she could build a gun of her own when she was old enough. The smallest of the guardians glanced at the Ravagers accusingly for a second before it was replaced with a grin. 

"Uncle Yondu said that it sucked," she said at first. "But I knew he was lying, and the next time I'm here I'm going to do it all by myself with no help at all," she beamed at them. 

"I bet you will," Peter agreed with her. 

"Did you do anything else with your uncles?" Gamora questioned, forever suspicious of what went on while they weren't around. The two Ravagers glanced at each other stiffly, Bryn could easily put a target on them if she mentioned what had happened with the Collector. 

"Not really," the child muttered as Drax put her back down. "But I still had fun." 

"Well that’s good to know," the green alien smiled at her. 

"Do you want me to show you a different type of gun?" Rocket mused after she continued on the topic of weapons. 

"Yes," she gasped seeming to freeze on the spot. 

"Well let's go then," he began to move back to the door before stopping as Yondu called out to them. 

"Now hold up," the Centaurian muttered taking a couple steps towards them. "We need to talk about something." 

"Do we?" Peter said, meeting his gaze. 

"Bryn, why don't you go tell Zeyka about your monster hoodie?" The captain said as she looked up at them curiously. 

"It's a shark," the Terran in front of him mumbled. The child looked between them anxiously, her mind still set on looking at a new gun with Rocket but ran over to the orange alien anyway. This way she would get a chance to say goodbye. 

"So what it is?" Gamora snapped. Bryn was safe with these men, she knew that by now, and that they cared about her enough to keep her safety in mind. But that didn't mean she wanted to spend anymore time with the Ravagers than was necessary. 

"What are we doing for Bryn's Birthday?" Kraglin asked before Yondu could respond. 

"It doesn't matter because you're not coming," Rocket sneered from below them. 

"We were thinking something to do with rocks," the first mate continued as if he hadn't spoken at all. "She'd think it was cool, don't you agree?" 

There wasn't as much shouting as Kraglin had been expecting, mostly because Gamora and Peter had already talked about what would happen if Bryn wanted them to come. Somehow it was surprising that they could all be adults about this, because whenever she was involved the Captain was a lot more adamant and the Guardians more threatening. 

It was understandable at least, the child had been part of their family for almost ten months and most of their time was spent making sure she was happy or had everything she needed. A job that had been passed onto her uncles the moment she stepped on the Eclector. If the guardians hadn't wanted them any more involved than a simple babysitter it was impossible with a kid like Bryn. Even some of the other Ravagers had taken notice of her random appearances and made sure to look nice when she was around, or at least wave back at her when she walked by. 

"What did you have in mind for a gift?" Peter finally sighed. Rocket and Drax looked at him bewildered before speaking. 

"You're not actually going to invite them are you?" The smallest guardian snarled. 

"You think Bryn won't want them there?" Gamora countered. Rocket looked away stubbornly but seemed to come to the same conclusion they had when discussing it. 

"She'd probably be really annoying if we said no," he mumbled more to himself. 

"As long as the tiny one wants them to come I am okay with it," the giant alien cut in. 

"Good," Yondu grinned.  

He and Kraglin had come to much the same conclusion as they had. If Bryn wanted them to come it would more than likely happen, and they were sure she would. The first mate had spent most of the previous night looking up things that she might want to do on her birthday, or places they could visit. Then, before the guardians arrived that morning had gone over what they thought might be best for a child turning eight years old. 

"We have two places that might work-," the Xandarian started. 

It was a brief conversation at that point, they went back and forth for about five minutes about the place and what might be best for a a group of people looking to celebrate a birthday. Peter had already spoken to three museums who were too expensive to buy out and Yondu mentioned something about threatening them. That was turned down quickly though. 

Since Bryn didn't have any friends her own age Drax suggested that some of the other Ravagers be invited if they liked her enough. At first the idea was rejected outright by Gamora and Rocket before Yondu listed two people that would be okay to come, one of them being Zeyka. Plus it was always good to have a doctor around if something went wrong, not that they were expecting it. Although for some reason the child always seemed to be getting hurt or finding problems. 

"I'll talk to one of those museums to see if they'll reconsider," the Centaurian smirked. 

"We'll find her some type of cake, or something," Peter said. 

"What's a cake?" Drax looked at them curiously. 

"We've been over this," the Terran groaned. 

"Are we going to talk about gifts, because I don't want to get the same thing as one of you," Rocket complained. He'd had an idea of what to get her a long time ago and was waiting for the right moment to finally hand it over, a birthday, or whatever they were calling it, seemed perfect. Peter sighed, slightly exasperated from the whole thing, but was relieved to finally get it out of the way. 

"In a week, we'll call you to see how everything is going. We can talk about gifts and make sure there's no repeats," he explained. Kraglin and Yondu shared a look together before nodding slowly and turning back to the guardians. 

"We told her no guns until she's ten," the Centaurian added. 

"Yeah, that sounds like a good age," Peter agreed. 

.o.o. 

"Do you want your uncles to come to your birthday?" Peter's question caught the child off guard. She looked at him quizzically and the Terran could immediately recognize the expression as being one that Gamora often gave. On Bryn's young face it looked silly and made the man want to laugh. 

"Aren't they already coming?" She said looking from him to Gamora worriedly.  

In the past week since they'd picked Bryn up Rocket had tried to reason with them why it would be better if the Ravagers didn't show up for their child's birthday. Peter chalked it up as the little guardian simply didn't want to share her special day with anyone else but them, and he was mostly right. Which was where the question was coming from, if Bryn didn't bring it up or made no indication of wanting Kraglin and Yondu there they'd throw a guardian's only party. 

"Of course they are," Rocket said as he walked past them towards the helm. "If they missed it I'd beat them up," he growled. 

He was by far the most protective of the child, and sometimes wanted to call and check up on her when she was with the Ravagers. Always insisting that she had been having nightmares the previous night, or that he obviously cared about her more than everyone else did if he was the only one suspicious. It was funny to Peter because when they had first decided to keep her he was the most resistant in accepting her as one of them. 

Now he was just annoying, but at least he'd somewhat gotten over the fact that Bryn considered her uncles as part of their family as well. The least he could do was try to act civil during her birthday, and as soon as it was over he allowed himself to not trust them again. 

"I'd help you," Drax said walking out of his room. 

"You'd probably do more damage anyway," Rocket muttered eyeing the large alien for a moment. 

That night, after Bryn had gone to sleep, they called Yondu and Kraglin to see what everyone had in mind for gifts. Rocket was the first one to state his and did so with a snarl, so as to deter anyone else from possibly getting something close to it. Everyone nodded along in agreement, Drax even congratulated the little guardian on an excellent idea that she was sure to love. The Ravagers had come up with an idea together that didn't interfere with anyone else' so that part of the conversation was nice and short. Peter and Gamora had pretty different idea's and narrowed it down to a couple things that Bryn would be very happy to have. 

Then came Drax. 

"I will give her this," he said pulling out a small knife that looked very sharp. 

"We went over this so many times," Peter groaned as Yondu glared at the large alien. 

"No weapons until she's old enough," Rocket sneered taking it off the table. 

"I was going to give her a toy hammer but Gamora said no," he explained as if it justified his decision. 

"It wasn't a toy," was all the green skinned woman said. He'd come to her a couple days ago with a hammer that had to be at least half the size of Bryn, which would have been fine if it was made out of plastic or foam. Except it wasn't.  

"What if she cuts herself?" Kraglin glared at him. "Will it be just a toy then?" 

"I will make sure that doesn't happen," Drax said getting a little defensive. 

"Oh, that's comforting," Yondu murmured just loud enough for the call to pick up. 

"How about you save it until she turns ten, and then we'll give it to her the year after that because it's very sharp," Peter reasoned with the large alien.  

Drax glared around at them all for a second before taking the knife back from Rocket who had been inspecting it with a grimace on his face. Probably thinking about all the cuts and scratches Bryn could get from it. 

"I can do that," he agreed before stuffing it into his pocket. How it didn't slice them open was a wonder to them, but it was best not to get back into at that point. 

After that they talked about the venue and who would be bringing what before the call ended and they turned back to Drax in order to help him with a new gift idea. Preferably one that wouldn't injure the kid, anymore than she did by herself anyway. So far all that Bryn had asked for, for her birthday, was that her uncle's come to spend the day with all of them, the rest of it was a surprise. One that everyone was very excited for.


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At the Museum, everyone walks through the Crystal Caves.

Yondu, Zeyka, and Kraglin were already waiting for them when the door to the Milano opened, Bryn's face lit up at the sight of her uncle's and the doctor and she rushed out to hug them. The guardians had been tasked with bringing food and cake while the Ravagers were in charge of making sure the museum was ready for the party that was to take place there. Although their small gathering wasn't much of a party, not like ones Peter remembered from Terra anyway. As a child when his friends had parties they'd invite the whole class and there'd been upwards of thirty children running around screaming with minimal adult supervision. 

Such would not be the case for Bryn's party. It only involved the guardians, Yondu, Kraglin, and Zeyka, which meant altogether there were eight people including the birthday girl. It was more like a family outing than anything else, but they were all pumped for it nonetheless. 

That morning they'd eaten breakfast, making sure it was Bryn's all time favorite food and letting her take as long as possible so they'd all stay at the table together. After that she and Peter had a dance off that he insisted she won, even though she'd tripped and smashed her face into the side of the ship. He'd called it a special move. Then Bryn explained that she wanted to spend a little time with the man on the snow planet and make sure he had a good day too, maybe he'd find some soup. 

The plan was to eat an early lunch and then spend the rest of the afternoon at the museum exploring and reading all about rocks from different planets and letting Bryn go nuts. Initially they'd tried to get the entire place reserved just for them, but the owner refused. When threatened he agreed to reserve at least three tables in the dining room for them and decorate it a little bit, but otherwise it remained open to the public. It wasn't like they needed the whole place to themselves anyway. For all they knew Bryn could walk past the smallest exhibit and think it was the coolest one there. 

"Happy birthday darlin'," Yondu laughed picking her up.  

"Only two more years until I get a gun, right?" She asked in anticipation. The comment made the Captain laugh and next to him Kraglin shook his head with a chuckle. Zeyka was the only one that still looked like he disapproved of the gun thing, though the doctor was always worried about what Bryn could hurt herself with. 

"That's right," the Centaurian grinned. 

He'd wondered when the question of her handling a gun would come up again, but hadn't been expecting it to be the very next time they saw each other. It made him wonder how often the guardians heard it from her, perhaps every day? 

"How does it feel to be one year older?" The first mate mused as Yondu placed her back on the ground. 

"Awesome," she exclaimed as Peter and Gamora came up beside her. "Do you know where we are?" She asked suddenly, looking up at the museum in front of them with wonder in her eyes. 

"Well, why don't we go inside and find out?" Rocket said walking past them towards the door.  

The museum was located on a planet that was littered with millions of caves, where the occupants lived and farmed. Most days, storms raged across the surface, but all was well underground. Kraglin thought Bryn would enjoy it the most because it was a blend of rocks and metal construction, which meant that sometimes the walls were made of crystals. But other times it was an exhibit where they could read about where the stones had come from, or have fun with interactive displays. 

At the entrance, Bryn was already looking around in curiosity, as an automated voice informed them that the cave they were walking into was one of the largest on the entire planet. Stalagmites on either side of the path led them into the reception area, where an alien with tentacles and five eyes gave them information about what the museum contained. 

"There's a two mile loop walk into the crystal caves, you get your own light to guide you through," she explained showing them a picture. "A fossil hunt that the children usually enjoy," she continued on as Bryn fidgeted below them. 

"What do you want to do?" Peter questioned as Kraglin and Rocket started to bicker with each other, fighting about which one she was likely to choose first. 

"I want to do everything," she whispered ashamedly.  It sounded like a lot, which was why she was so disappointed in her urge to do it all. She didn't want everyone else to get bored, or make them stay too long because she couldn’t make up her mind. 

"We will," Rocket assured her.  

"Really?" She gasped looking at each of them individually for confirmation. There was a chorus of nods and affirmations that had Bryn grinning from ear to ear. "You guys are the best!" 

"What do you want to do first, tiny one?" Drax asked. 

"The cave," she cheered. 

"It sounds pretty cool," Zeyka muttered reading some of the information. 

"It does," Bryn agreed marching off in a random direction. 

There was an elevator that led down to the two mile trail, all of them shoved their way into the small area so no one was left out and hoped it wouldn't mind the weight. When the doors opened it was to darkness, so black was the area in front of them that they all hesitated for a second. The first one to walk out was Gamora, one first step in the cave glowed a soft purple color and lit up the ground. The next one was a pale blue that streaked up along the walls to light the way towards the path. 

As soon as they were all walking the cave was alight with cool colors that flitted this way and that across the crystals on either side of them. Above them the ceilings were high, Zeyka had been slightly worried about whether or not he'd have to crouch down much. It made him sigh in relief to see the glow of the rocks several feet above his head. 

Another museum worker came into view and explained what was happening before handing each of them their own glowing crystal necklace and wishing them a good time. Bryn ended up with a teal colored one that she kept saying was the same color as her eyes, while Peter ended up with a pink one that no one would trade. 

"Whatever, pink is the best anyway," he finally huffed, letting it settle around his neck. 

In the first ten minutes Bryn tripped twice because she kept looking at the top of the cave and not where she was walking, but after the second time she mumbled something and made sure to watch. It could also have been that Zeyka threatened to hold her hand if she fell again. 

"I don't want to be tied down," she mumbled holding her crystal out when the color in the ground faded. 

Conversation between the guardians and the Ravagers was limited at first, their only mutual topic was Bryn and how excited she was about everything they saw. Yet, after a little while, the discussions changed to guns and missions they had taken that were exceptionally annoying. Or what dealers they should avoid if Bryn was with them. Rocket and Kraglin were stuck on what type of weapons were best for a good portion of the walk, while Peter and yondu argued about treasures they'd found and who earned more. 

One part of the cave was covered entirely in pulsating dark red stones that, when touched, turned completely crimson until the person moved on. Drax picked up Bryn, at her request, so she could touch some of the ones that reached up towards the ceiling, she laughed as they reacted to her little hands. Then said Gamora looked weird with red skin as the large alien set her back down. 

"Green is best," the woman nodded. 

Another section had a sign that lit up upon their arrival that said. 

"Please hit the rocks," Zeyka said quizzically. Wasn't it usually the other way around? 

"That's weird," Peter whispered before a hollow whistling sound reached their ears. Bryn had pulled Kraglin ahead in order to knock on the stones with her. She gasped at the noise as the first mate grinned at her while going for another one. In a few moments they could hear nothing but the noise of the rocks all around them as everyone went to their own set and punched as many as they could. 

It was expected of them to be hard and hurt their hands, but upon contact the rough exterior seemed to shrink away before vibrating visibly in front of them. The only light in the room was coming from the crystals around their necks, each person glowing softly as the sounds jumped around the cave. Finally, after a minute or two of the deafening racket, Zeyka pulled everyone away from their sections and into the next area. 

There was another sign near the end of the trail that had Bryn running ahead to see what it looked like, as she recognized the crystal as being from Terra. 

"The Quartz Room,"Gamora read it this time. 

A white light filtered into the darkness around them as they walked, and then all at once, the area was alight with colors. All around them were tall, short, small, thin, and large quartz crystals that were blue, pink, teal, purple, and clear as well as many other hues and shades. Beneath some of the bigger ones were small, hand sized, pieces that seemed to glitter as they moved around. In some places the quartz seemed to stretch on for several yards beyond the trail until it was engulfed in shadow. Everyone seemed to stop in their conversations and musing in order to stare in wonder at the spectacle in front of them.  

Most of the time when Bryn was excited about a rock or ran up to show them one that she particularly liked it was brown or a shade of the ground and somewhat boring. Though they never told her that, as she would proceed to tell them why they were wrong for the better part of an hour. Yet as they stared off into the room, it was easy to see why the girl liked them so much. Especially after following her through the cave, everything they had seen so far had been amazing. 

"It says on the sign that you can take the little pieces if you want," the green skinned woman called out to them. Bryn turned to them suddenly, a sort of crazy smile upon her face as she glanced around at all the piles of small quartz that was up for grabs. 

"I wore the right pants today," she said happily setting off towards the large smoky purple colored crystals. She'd spent at least ten minutes that morning debating what she should wear for the mystery day that her Birthday was going to be, and ultimately decided that more pockets was always better. Soon her red Ravager pants would be filled with any and everything she could get her hands on. 

It ended up being about thirty different colored ones, although Bryn was only able to fit ten or so in her pockets and the rest of them were split up between everyone else. Throughout the remainder of the walk she was still so excited about her new crystals that she could talk about little else. When they finally got to the elevator that would take them back up, her eyes were so wide with excitement it made them all laugh quietly. 

"Which area was your favorite?" Peter asked, while chuckling. 

"All of them," she whispered, still in awe of what they had seen and what she had in her pockets. 

"Should have been expecting that," Kraglin scoffed. 

"How about we go see the fire rocks next?" Rocket offered looking at the information screen again. 

"Yeah," Bryn cheered. The walk had taken them close to an hour and the entire time Bryn had been at the front of the pack, leading the way and gasping in wonder at anything and everything she saw. It was cute, to see her so eager for all that the museum had to offer and this was only the first thing! "Does it let you burn things?" She questioned curiously. 

Rocket looked at the rest of the adults cautiously, it did mention that, in order to show how hot the stones were, they were given things to incinerate. That didn't necessarily mean that they would let her do it though. They all glanced at each other warily before Drax, Yondu, and Peter nodded slowly, as long as they watched her she shouldn't be able to cause any damage. On the other hand Gamora, Kraglin, Zeyka, and the smallest guardian seemed to share the same feelings, no, Bryn was too unpredictable. 

"Only the adults get to burn things," he finally said making the girl groan. 

"Okay," she sighed in disappointment. 


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone goes fossil hunting and Uncle Kraglin is still the best!

In was almost unbearably warm in the fire room, where the rocks glowed and rippled with different colors of flame depending on the level of heat each one produced. Bryn was immediately drawn to the purple ones in the very corner. They were small in comparison to some of the other red, yellow, and green ones in the room, but the violet flame flicked across the black surface like a wave. Kraglin followed behind her while everyone else fanned out into the space, pulling at their jackets uncomfortably as they began to sweat. The first mate had never seen Bryn so excited for anything, and her simple joy at rocks and just being with her family seemed to give him some sort of anxious energy as well. 

"Is purple your favorite color?" He mused as she pressed her face against the glass. 

"I think so," she said looking at him sternly. The Xandarian never got tired of all the expression she had to offer, and how the smallest things got her so riled up and serious. 

"You think so?" He questioned. "Are you not sure?" 

"Blue is really cool, like uncle Yondu blue, and so is green, like Gamora," she started to ramble. "Then there's red and uncle Kraglin blue, but I do like purple," she faded off. 

Basically, she just liked the colors of her family, which is something he should have been expecting but surprised him all the same. 

"What's uncle Kraglin blue?" He asked trying to figure it out for himself. Bryn didn't look away from the flickering rocks in front of her, but answered all the same. 

"Your eyes are cool!" Was all she offered him before walking towards some of the indigo rocks. He chuckled softly at her reply while going over towards the other adults who were reading off the information pad. 

"Apparently you used to be able to burn things, like they'd give you stuff to melt, but too many kids would run off and hurt themselves that they had to close them off," Rocket explained. 

"I could see Bryn doing that," Peter muttered as she continued to push her face against the glass to see as much as she possibly could. They all glanced at her briefly, nodding in agreement as they thought of past experiences where the child had gone off by herself and caused trouble. 

"She's just too curious," Yondu muttered. 

"But that's what makes her cute," Peter countered. 

"Yup," was all the Centaurian said in reply. Many times he laughed at her for being astounded by simple things, but that was one of the things he liked about her. 

After another few minutes of wiping sweat off their faces it was Zeyka who pulled Bryn out of the room, moving towards the nearest source of water so they could all rehydrate and cool off. The doctor always kept a close eye on the child and made sure he knew where she was at all times. Sometimes when she was with him for the day and got lost he'd scold her for it, he wasn't going to coddle her. If her safety was on the line she had to understand that something could happen to her and they didn't want that. Although, Zeyka always made sure she understood what he was saying and it made sense, otherwise she'd just stare at him blankly and misunderstand the situation. 

The guardians were thankful for this, because Bryn would come back with new guidelines and consequences sometimes. Zeyka had told her that if she wandered off by herself again she couldn't play with her toy, which she, in turn, told Peter and Gamora. Instead of having to get picked up because she ran off so much the child now walked obediently next to Rocket and Drax when they went out. 

"Do you want to go dig up some fossils now?" Gamora questioned as they gathered together. 

"Yes!" Bryn's face lit up again. If the green alien had thought the child looked excited before she was wrong, although the little alien seemed to have a constant level of happiness in the museum. 

"Dig up what?" Drax questioned. 

"Old dead things that got turned into rocks," Peter muttered as they set off in the right direction. 

"What kind of dead things?" The large alien continued. 

"I don't know," the Terran sighed. "Dinosaurs and fish?" 

"What's a Dinosaur?" Rocket asked looking back at him. 

"A giant lizard thing, well there were different kinds-," he stopped himself short. "You know what, we'll find out." 

When the elevator opened to reveal the fossil floor a cloud of dust greeted them and when it cleared they could see that the entire area was open and covered in dirt. There were a few kids scattered here and there in front of them, with a parent or two chasing them around. Just in front of them was another reception desk with a bored looking Krylorian who barely stirred at their arrival before him.  

Again, there was a trail that led them to the pink alien, who was now gathering materials and eyeing their group suspiciously. Probably because there usually wasn't such a big ratio of adults to kids, in this case seven to one. 

"You'll be using these tools to dig up and preserve the fossil," he began his mantra. He probably said the same thing at least a hundred times a day, Peter could see how that would get annoying after a while. "If you're not careful it will break, some of them are more fragile than others. On the other side of the room," he pointed at a machine so far away it looked tiny. "You can put your fossil in there and it'll tell you what kind of creature it used to be. If it's a creature the machine will keep it so we can bury it again, but if it's a shell or plant you can keep it." 

"Do you have a bag we can use to carry them?" Gamora said grabbing the pink aliens attention. She could already picture Bryn with hands full of fossils trying to walk around and find more and tripping somewhere along the way. 

While the green skinned woman was getting a couple bags the rest of them were either looking at their tools or the child's anxious face as she fidgeted with her own dirt brush. They hadn’t failed to notice the way her expression had hardened into one of determination when the man mentioned she could keep some of them if she found the right ones. 

"I think I'll find more than you will, Bryn," Kraglin mused making the little alien look up at him suddenly. 

"Nuh huh," she countered. "I'll find at least a hundred!" 

"What if I find two hundred?" The Xandarian smirked. Her mouth hung open in shock for a second before a stubborn frown found it's way into her features. She glanced away from him for a second and then answered him. 

"You won't," she stated as if it was a fact. 

"I will if Peter, Yondu, and Drax help me," the first mate smiled at her gasp. 

"Don't drag me into this," Yondu mumbled. 

Kraglin enjoyed picking on Bryn and making sarcastic comments to the girl whenever she gave him the opportunity, which was a lot. Yondu tried not to get tangled up in it if he could help it, even though the Captain did usually laugh at the outcome, or the expression on the child's face. The first mate merely threw him a smirk, before crossing his arms defiantly as Bryn glanced at the people next to her. 

"Well I have Gamora, Rocket, and Zeyka, and Zeyka has really long arms," she said this as if it was a super power. "And Rocket and Gamora are awesome!" 

"Hey," Peter sounded slightly offended, but was hiding an amused smile. "I'm awesome too!" 

"One hour to see who gets the most," Rocket said catching onto the situation. If it was a competition and there was a chance to beat the two smug Ravagers in front of him, he'd do it. Sometimes the little guardian was sure they thought they were better for the child, and he didn't share the opinion. 

"An hour?" Yondu groaned. How exciting could it be to look through a bunch of dirt for old dead things? At least the caves had been interesting, but this, he wasn't too excited. 

"Time starts now," Peter grabbed a bag and ran off. 

"Try not to step on the fossils," the Krylorian yelled after them. 

Yondu had been expecting the hour to drag as he followed Kraglin around, but it was anything but boring as Bryn streaked by him every so often. He wasn't very good at finding the things, only ended up with one, and that was after Kraglin pointed it out to him on the fly. On the other hand, their little girl had four and she was almost completely covered in dirt and dust. Probably because she would lay completely on the ground when she found one and work very carefully in order to preserve it. 

A couple of them had trouble simply taking the thing out of the ground, Peter and Drax specifically. When the large alien found one he tried to pry it out of the ground and usually ended up snapping the more fragile ones at the sides, or in half. After two fossils were given this fate one of the museum workers made him sit off to the side and watch. Peter would lose his patience and move on to the next one, although he did end up with a two small ones at the end. 

"Alright, how many did you guys get?" Peter questioned as they gathered around the machines. All of their pants were dusty from walking around, or kneeling in order to get the fossil out of the ground, except for Bryn anyway. Most of them couldn't help but smile at her appearance as she was almost completely covered in a layer of light brown dirt. 

"Bryn has four, and the rest of us found five, so, nine," Rocket said as they held them up. 

"Well, I found two, so did Kraglin, Drax got kicked out and Yondu found one," the Terran showed off his small ones. 

"We win," Gamora smirked. 

"Yeah," Bryn cheered below them. "Let's see where they came from!" 

Of all the fossils that they found only one of them was from Terra, although it did not turn out to be a dinosaur at all. It was a shell of a marine animal called an ammonite, which looked like a spiral that had everyone grabbing it to look at individually. Kraglin was the original finder, but since all of the fossils Bryn found were creatures that had to be returned he gave it to her. Which had been his plan in the first place. He only really wanted to see the child running around with a determined expression on her face while he looked for the perfect fossil for her to have.  

It was something she hadn't been expecting, when he said she could have it she hugged his left leg and refused to let go. Even when he tried to walk she hung on and weighed him down, which made the others laugh a little. Going as far as saying she would protect it with her life because it was so cool. 

The only other one they were allowed to keep was a plant fossil from a planet no one had heard of. It looked like the claw of an animal, although it was very small, Peter had been the one to find it and figured he could just give it to Groot.  

"What should we do next?" Peter asked while ruffling Bryn's hair in order to get some of the dust out, it came off of her in puffs. She was still looking at her newest addition to the collection and every so often glancing at Kraglin with a grin, forever ecstatic that he had given it to her. 

"There's an underwater section that sounds interesting. We can do that, something else, and then go eat. What do you think Bryn?" Gamora questioned.  

During the fossil hunt they'd talked about where else to take her before they had their little birthday meal and gift giving. They'd already been there for a little while and were sure that the child was beginning to tire, even if she wasn't showing yet. If rocks were involved she'd probably force herself to go on forever, so they'd have to give her an ultimatum.  

"That sounds awesome!" She said while patting down some of her clothing. It was unclear if she was excited about the underwater part or the food part, but either way it was best to continue on.


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gifts and rock candy.

The best part about the underwater section was watching Bryn's excited expression when they came upon the color changing rocks that turned green when the water was cold, and orange when it was hot. They were small and covered the whole sea floor of one of the sections, making it appear as if the ground was changing appearance while breathing. Or so their child pointed out to them. She felt the need to explain to each person why it could be possible, even though they had already heard it from afar. 

Another section had an assortment of stones that floated on the water, it was an interactive exhibit. On one side of the room was a container full of different types of rocks, and on the other side was an expanse of water. Each of them grabbed different ones and tested it out. Drax, Gamora, Kraglin, and Zeyka all picked wrong, and made Peter shout in delight and humor as his own bobbed on the surface. 

Gamora had to remind Bryn that they would be doing one more area and then it would be time for food, as the child started to talk about what else they could fit in. She finally settled on the projection room, which boasted rocky landscapes that they could pick from. 

It turned out to be a large version of Bryn's View Master, although instead of it having to be strapped to their faces all the walls filled up with the landscape of the chosen area. They took turns picking planets and staring around in wonder at the fantastical formations in front of them. Every once in a while someone would pick a lame one and Bryn would try to find something positive to say about it. Claiming that she didn't want to hurt the planet's feelings, even though Drax insisted it didn't care. 

"What if we go there someday and it remembers what you said and then it decides to punch you in the face?" She countered as he badmouthed another bland looking moonscape. 

"With what?" Rocket questioned as they all tried to imagine a rocky hand coming from the ground to attack. 

"Anger," Bryn said in a breathless voice, as if it was scary. 

"Does anger hurt more than normal pain?" Kraglin mused  from behind them. 

"Lots," she nodded. 

They spent another ten minutes in that area before heading over to the cafeteria, where each table was made from a different type of rock. As they walked up a museum worker approached and led them to a separate area where a little party was already prepared. There were some strange streamers hung around the walls and off some of the chairs. One of the tables had the food and cake on it, while the other two were decorated with multi colored tablecloths and  utensils. 

The cake was round and dull looking, a grey color that seemed splotchy and old, and then Gamora turned it around and Bryn shouted in shock. On one side it was a rock, but the other was full of purple and blue candy crystals that shimmered in the light as it moved to present itself. 

There were other bowls of snacks and a platter of the main course, but nothing held their attention quite like the cake did. Even Drax was looking at it in wonder and was convinced that it was a real stone and they wouldn't be able to eat it. 

"You saw us buy this," Rocket guffawed after he said something else about it. 

"I did not know it was food," he appeared to be studying it. 

"Do we have to eat it?" Bryn asked with a torn expression on her face. It looked very tasty and she couldn't wait to see which color crystal tasted better, but at the same time she just wanted to take it home and keep it forever. 

"We can't keep it B," Peter ruffled her hair trying to make her smile. "It'll get moldy and disgusting." She sighed below him, nodding along in agreement but seemed nonetheless discouraged. "Maybe by the end of the day you'll have one of your own." 

"Really?" She questioned eyeing the rock candy in front of her. 

"I'd bet on it," he grinned while Gamora glared at him. 

"Okay," she said content. "Can we eat it right now?" 

"No," Zeyka cut in before anyone else could respond. "Real food first." 

Bryn tried to eat quickly, wanting to get to cake as fast as she could, but slowed down after Yondu gave her a blank stare. It was an expression she'd gotten used to in their time together, and usually meant that she needed to stop what she was doing and act like a normal person. More often than not, it appeared when she was anxious about something and became more and more rushed with her conversations. The Captain would look at her until she calmed down, it was his way of showing her that the world wouldn't run off without her. 

Instead of forcing too much food down her throat Bryn interrogated everyone, wanting to know which part was their favorite part so far and then tell them what she liked about that part as well. Kraglin claimed that the bathroom was his favorite at first, making the child stare at him aghast before he assured her he was joking. She looked at him suspiciously for the rest of the meal, as if she was convinced he was still fibbing about something. 

She ended up talking so much that everyone finished before her, which made her take bigger than usual mouthfuls and try to talk at the same time. Effectively launching crumbs all over the table while Drax, Gamora, Zeyka, and Kraglin excused themselves in order to get something from their ships. 

"So is this your favorite place in the galaxy now?" Rocket questioned while Bryn started to sort the rocks in her pockets by color. 

"It's tied, a three way," she said. Her small hands pushed and pulled the quartz crystals here and there into different sections, while she mumbled things they couldn't make out. 

"Is one of them Terra?" Peter guessed, trying to imagine that Bryn was thinking of her mother. 

"No," she whispered with wide eyes. She must have forgotten about, or perhaps not even considered, the planet she was born on. 

"You like Xandar don't you?" Yondu muttered recalling her excitement when they'd first taken her through the market. 

"The best places in the whole everything," she announced throwing her hands in the air. "Is with uncle Yondu and Kraglin on the Eclector," she pointed at the Centaurian. "At home with my family on the Milano," Rocket and Peter beamed at her. "And here, but only when we're all together." 

Yondu grinned at her and wondered how Kraglin might have reacted had he been there beside them. The Centaurian still remembered the look of remorse on the first mate's face when they'd first figured out what had happened to their little ball of energy. Initially the idea of babysitting was ridiculous to both of them, but now it was different. In fact, there was still a small hope that something would happen to the guardians so they could have Bryn to themselves. 

She probably liked her uncles better anyway. 

When the rest of the group reentered they were carrying bags and boxes wrapped in what Yondu assumed was supposed to be festive paper. But in reality appeared to be random unwanted parchment that looked old and worn. The presents were deposited on the other decorated table while they rejoined Bryn while she looked on in curiosity at what they'd brought with them. 

"Do you want to do cake first or open gifts?" Gamora asked. 

"But I already got what I wanted," she said defensively. 

"What do you mean?" Kraglin mused wondering what was going to come next. He was always waiting for the next thing that Bryn had a question about, or story that jumped into her head. 

"I just wanted us all to be together, and we are, so I'm good," she nodded as they glanced at each other. "I don't need anything else." 

"Too bad," Peter laughed. They all figured she must have gone a couple birthdays with nothing to show for it, and perhaps not even knowing that she had leveled up at all. That was going to change in the years to follow, and would start this year.  

"These are the gifts you didn't get from us last year," Rocket assured her. Bryn looked confused for a moment as she turned to each of them slowly while they nodded in agreement. 

"I'll make sure to be really happy for them," she assured them. 

"Okay," Peter chuckled wondering where she had heard such a comment from. "Let's eat the cake first, then later you can crash. How does that sound?" 

"Will I explode?" She asked sternly. 

It had started with a small comment from Peter that led to such a conversation over and over again. Drax had gotten her some candy and given her the entire thing to eat all at once, which led to an overload. Somewhere between  Bryn sprinting around the ship and then passing out underneath the table the Terran had commented about how she was like a bomb about to explode. She thought it was pretty cool and wouldn’t shut up about it the next day. 

"Yes you will," he stated. 

"Awesome," she whispered. "I'm going to blow up." 

The Ravagers gave him curious stares but Peter merely shook his head, it was really something that they had to be there for. 

Bryn ended up hoarding all the crystal rock candy on her plate and eating half of it, claiming that the blue ones tasted better then the purple ones, even though they were as pretty. Zeyka was pretty sure that they were all the same flavor and just different colors, not that he was going to correct the child. Although he did have to stop her from stuffing the fake rocks in her pockets in order to take them home, Peter reminded her that she had and could get rocks just like them later. 

As they moved over to the gift table Bryn's eyes widened more and more as she thought about what could possibly be inside all the bags and boxes. She'd never gotten more than one present before, because the only person that knew about her on Terra was her mother. 

"Can I share them?" She questioned. For a moment she was worried that they would feel left out if they didn’t have their own gifts to open, and she didn't want that. 

"How about you decide that later?" Rocket muttered. 

 After she saw what they had given her he was sure that she'd be more than excited about using them as much as possible. Bryn hummed in agreement before reaching out towards the first bag, which was from Zeyka. She was careful with the container it came in and the paper, no matter how they urged her to rip it apart she insisted it might be cool to keep. 

There was a case inside the bag that opened with a zipper to reveal a first aid kit that seemed to be stocked with everything the child might need should she fall into another hole anytime soon. There was also a deep red messenger bag full of hidden pockets that Bryn was sure to fill up with rocks. 

"I can fix people now?" She gasped turning towards the tall alien immediately. His face faltered for a moment before he remembering what all he had given the child. There was nothing dangerous in the kit, except for, maybe, a tiny pair of scissors, but he trusted her with that at least. 

"Yup," the orange alien mused. 

"Wow," she gasped still looking at it in astonishment. "Will it help me grow tall like you?" 

"Don't think so." 

"Worth a shot," she mumbled making them chuckle softly. 

The next gift was from Drax and turned out to be a giant stuffed creature with four arms, hugs eyes that ate up most of the face, and thick brown fur that was already shedding on the table. It looked to be the same size as she was and Bryn could barely lift it off the table to show to them without having it touch the ground. 

"He will protect you from monsters," the large alien stated proudly. The rest of the adults had no idea why he had picked a plush toy, but it was better than a sharp knife so they kept their mouths shut. Plus Bryn seemed to be pretty excited about the puff ball, regardless of whether or not she'd be able to carry it around. 

Peter found a walkman, much like his own, and had been making the child her own mixtape to listen to whenever she wanted, although most of the songs were the ones they danced to at night. Bryn claimed they were the only ones that really mattered. Gamora smirked triumphantly at the child gasp of surprise as she pulled out her own geode breaking kit and some books about how each one was formed and what to expect inside. In between gifts the girl was getting up and attacking whoever had given her the gift with hugs and promises of mutual play time with said gift between them. 

There was a grown your own crystals kit from Yondu and Kraglin that had Bryn speechless and almost crying in disbelief before Kraglin picked her up and made her laugh. 

"We can all make them together," she whimpered. "Because we're all really cool and awesome." 

"Are these happy tears?" The first mate chuckled as he put her down. She nodded while rubbing her eyes stiffly, telling herself that crying was only for those who weren't cool. 

"One more gift," Rocket announced pushing his in her direction. 

Two of them were in the box, and as soon as her little fingers found the object and pulled it out Bryn gasped in shock and almost dropped it. A small green squirt gun shone brightly in her hand as the other one found the next gun. This one was around the same size but appeared to have some foam darts inside of it instead of the potential bit of water. 

"You can hurt yourself with these," Rocket assured her as she looked up at Peter and Yondu questioningly. Gamora could already see Bryn popping out around corners and spraying them in the face with the little toy, which meant it was a gift Rocket would probably regret later. 

But it was worth it for the expression on Bryn's face. The simple look of joy as she glanced back at her gifts and then at the aliens who had given them to her. Running over ot the smallest guardian and hugging him tight before turning to look at everyone again. 

"Can we all play together?"


	26. Chapter 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Exploding rocks and too much energy.

"Right now?" Peter questioned. 

"Don't you want to see the rest of the museum?" Yondu mused as Bryn looked spastically between all of her gifts. 

"Yeah," the child huffed. Realizing that they probably only had time to do one of the things, but still wanting to play with her new toys. She was quiet for a minute and the rest of them couldn't help but glance at each other with amused looks on their faces. Their little one was always so determined with everything that she did it didn't come as a surprise that she was trying to figure it out all on her own. 

"So what do you want to do?" Gamora asked, kneeling down to the same level as her. 

"We should finish the rest of the museum," she stated defiantly. Not that anyone was going to fight her on such a verdict, but everything with Bryn was dramatic and they all played along with it regardless. 

"How much is left?" Kraglin mumbled down to Rocket who was already looking at a map of the place. They'd done most of the big attractions already, but even then they were only about half way through it. 

"Probably too much, Bryn should last another hour or two before she starts to get sluggish," Rocket answered in a whisper. Anytime the child heard something about her stamina she'd turn on them stubbornly and state that she could walk for a thousand miles and never get tired. Unless it was made of rocks, then she'd stop and look at all of them. 

The best course of action was to pick three or four area's that she was sure to love, so when she started to drag and fight her exhaustion there wouldn't be much left to keep her angry about her failing body. A few times they had taken Bryn to a new planet where they were picking up a mission, and a couple times it had taken most of the day, simply walking around or running from monsters. Near the end of it she was always the first to go, slumping into the ground until Drax picked her up and held under his arm. 

"Well, I think the exploding rocks are next," Zeyka said. Packing as many of her new gifts as he could into a spare bag, the only thing that didn’t fit was Drax's giant stuffed creature. 

"I'll take these back to the ship and meet you guys there," Peter nodded, taking the gifts from the tall doctor. 

"Wait," Bryn suddenly called out to them. They turned on her curiously, wondering what might have gone wrong to make her shout. 

"What is it tiny one?" Drax looked the most surprised. Though he usually was when the child did something that he claimed only larger aliens like himself could succeed in. 

"Can we play with the toys another day?" She questioned, with wide pleading eyes. 

"Of course," Rocket chuckled. Was that all she had been worried about. "We can play with them tomorrow." 

"All of us?" She pushed further. 

This caused the Ravagers and the Guardians to look at each other, trying to gauge whether or not they wanted to see each other again anytime soon, or if they were busy in the next few days. It wasn't a secret that the only thing bringing them together was the child, and nothing else. Now that they had her in common though, it was easy to say that the day hadn't been nearly as awkward as they thought it would. 

Bryn wasn't demanding that they all play together, the girl never really asked for much of anything, even when they prompted her to. The fact that she was requesting something was the only reason they were considering it in the first place. 

"We'll figure something out," Yondu finally muttered making the girl grin broadly. 

"Awesome," she whispered making a couple of them chuckle. 

"Alright, see you in a bit," Peter started towards the entrance. 

He met them five minutes after they got to the exploding rocks exhibit, to find Bryn covered in black smudges that Zeyka was trying to wipe off of her as best he could. They explained that she had tried to take some of the rocks with her, but when she tripped and fell on them they engulfed her in black. The good thing was that she didn't care in the slightest and found that when she hugged people it got on them as well. Which was why she immediately went to hug the Terran not a second after he had returned. 

After that they made sure to keep an eye on her little grabby hands that seemed to collect anything it could get in it's grasp. Kraglin was especially good at picking up when she had snuck something and was constantly holding out his hand for whatever it was that she had filched. 

"You have to ask us," Rocket reminded her. "What if it's dangerous and blows off your hand?" He questioned making the child's eyes widen. More often than not Bryn followed all of their rules perfectly, the exception was when it was involved with her favorite thing in the world, new rocks. When those came into play all rules went out the window and she had to be reminded of them constantly.  

Rocket was the only one who was ever able to get through to her, and it was usually with a story that was complete nonsense, but scared  her enough to think it could actually happen. 

"What?" She gasped looking at her own hands. 

"He's right Bryn," Yondu chimed in from in front of them. "There used to be a guy that was a Ravager, but he thought something was really cool and decided to keep it," he started. The Centaurian now had everyone's attention, although the adults merely smiled in amusement. 

"Did he ask?" She gasped, knowing the answer. 

"No, he didn't. And he lost a leg, do you want to lose a leg?" She shook her head violently. Then proceeded to hand them some rocks that they had missed, and also a small handful of rock candy that she had taken despite them telling her no. 

"Are you going to ask from now on?" Peter said as Bryn checked the rest of her pockets. 

"I like my legs," was all she responded. 

In the end they made it through five more exhibits, but only because the child begged them to, even as she started to slump against walls and some of their legs. Whenever someone would bend down to pick her up she'd wriggle out of their grasp and bound off in a random direction. She was very determined to see everything, they had to give her credit for lasting so long. Even though they had been ready to leave at least two hours ago it was worth it to watch Bryn sway on her feet as she did her best to convince them that she wasn't at all sleepy. 

Finally it was Zeyka who picked her up and refused to put her back down, even as she promised that she was fine and it was just a slip of the brain. He held her against his chest, one arm under her bottom, so she could look over his shoulder at everything as they passed it, but she didn't last five minutes in his arms. 

"Geez, finally," Peter groaned looking at their child's sleeping face. "Even I'm tired after today." 

"Our child has a lot of energy," Drax laughed. 

"Yeah she does," Rocket agreed below them. 

"Is she always like this?" Zeyka mused as she mumbled something in her sleep. 

"Yes," Gamora and Peter replied at the same time. 

It certainly kept them on their toes, because Bryn always had some new idea or wanted to do something exciting with the day. The only time she was ever somewhat subdued was when they got her to explore her planets in the view master, although that also came with her telling them all the things she found. Plus there was the poor man who didn’t have shoes, he was always a favorite topic for the child. 

At times it was a little too much, especially when the day had been long and rough. She was there, bouncing on her feet, ready to tell them about the time she had spent with her uncles or about which rock was her new favorite. The child had caused their days to go from perhaps a little relaxing, to stock full of explaining questions and chasing after a strong kid who's goal in life was to collect rocks. 

The nights after she ran around with them were the best though. When she fell asleep against their arms while they sat next to each other on the couch, or slumped into her food at the table. Her small hands on their pants or clenched onto their fingers as she tried to show them something. When she was scared and ran straight to them, or snuggled in close after a nightmare, made everything worth it. Especially when they thought of how she was when they first picked her up compared to how she was now. 

"You think she'll lose any of that energy as she gets older?" Yondu mused moving some hair out of her face. 

"Not a chance," Kraglin answered.  

At least he hoped she wouldn't. Bryn was one of the few things in life he wanted to protect, he didn't care for much in the galaxy anymore. But when the little alien was involved he was defensive, venomous, and challenging, before turning around and acting silly when she showed up in front of him. 

On the way out of the museum the staff thanked them for coming and stared skeptically at their group of what seemed to be just adults, before they caught sight of the sleeping child. She roused a few times as they walked back, but wasn't coherent enough to protest the fact that they were leaving until Zeyka handed her off to Peter. 

"Wha-," she mumbled opening her eyes. "Where's going?" 

"Say good bye to your uncles Bryn," Gamora whispered making Bryn frown sadly. 

"But I want them to stay," she said sluggishly. 

"They have to go home now kid," Rocket said while opening the door to the ship.  

"No," she said softly looking at them. "We have to play together." 

"We can play with them the next time you come over," Kraglin assured her. 

"Promise," her gaze hardened on them. It made the Ravagers want to laugh at her new expression, she'd only recently started giving the first mate suspicious looks when he was sarcastic with her. She was getting it from Gamora, who constantly glowered at Peter whenever he offered her a stupid answer to one of her questions. 

"Maybe," the Xandarian teased her. 

"Fine," she pouted. 

She thanked them for coming by patting their hands softly, because Peter didn't want to pass her around to each of them, in case she didn't want to let go afterwards. As the Terran walked with her into the ship Gamora lingered behind to thank them as well, for not only coming but always being so nice to Bryn even though she wasn't technically theirs. Yondu scoffed and assured her that they would always be her uncles and the green woman smiled in response. 

As Gamora turned to walk away they could hear Peter talking a sleepy Bryn, who was telling the Terran that he could help her organize all of her new rocks tomorrow. The man sounded a little less than excited but went along with it all the same. 

"She'll be a handful later," Zeyka muttered as he walked up into their own ship. 

The thought came back to Yondu slowly, thinking about Bryn growing up and how she could change in, not only appearance, but also personality. He'd never worried about Peter when it came to relationships and who the boy hooked up with, but when Bryn popped into his head with a boy chasing her. A red hot anger followed, apparently Kraglin had been thinking something similar because he spoke on the same topic a moment later. 

"She's never dating anyone," he growled. 

"Nope," the captain agreed.


	27. Chapter 27

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bryn learns that asking is important.

It had only been two days since her birthday and half of the guardians were regretting letting Rocket give the little girl two guns for her present. Every chance she got Bryn was bursting around corners and spraying them with water or aiming at their heads and missing when they were talking to each other. She'd lost one of the darts in the engines already, and Gamora would put them up out of her reach whenever she saw one on the ground, claiming that it wouldn't happen if the child simply picked up her toys. 

Peter couldn't decide if he liked the guns or thought they were annoying. Sometimes when Drax got sprayed in the face, or the child missed and got the green skinned woman in the crotch it was hilarious. On the other hand she'd gotten him in the ear and almost shot him in the eye with a dart a couple times now, and he was getting a little tired of checking around doors to make sure the kid wasn't there. 

The smallest of the guardians thought it was all fantastic, even when Bryn got him he only applauded her or grabbed her other gun and played along. Showing her how to aim better, or where he knew were weak spots for the rest of them. Of all of them, Groot was always the happiest to get shot with water, and the child made sure to do it often so the tiny guardian would never feel left out when she was playing. 

Something that Yondu and Kraglin constantly nagged Peter about was how he raised the child, they insisted that he spoiled her too much and had to be stricter with things that were more important. Most of the time the Terran didn't like to do that with Bryn, because she was usually pretty obedient anyway. It was just when certain things that she liked were involved did the girl become stubborn and pouty, though he also thought it was cute when she puffed out her small cheeks. 

Bryn woke Peter on the third day with a spray up his nose making him jerk awake and startle the girl enough to have her fall over. She looked shocked to see that the Terran was so annoyed, her lips quaking slightly as she waited for him to respond. 

"Give me the gun," Peter said holding out his hand. She stood up slowly and handed it to him, dejected and apologetic. "Shooting people in the face isn't very nice." 

"Sorry," she whispered softly. 

One of the hard things about being stern with Bryn was that she had a rough past when it came to parental figures. During perhaps the most important developmental years of her life she was getting tossed around by relatives who hated and didn't want her and then sold her to a psycho. They were always so careful with the girl because none of them wanted to upset her, or remind her of the time that she was locked away. 

Of course it had already happened a couple times where they snapped at her, mostly when she continued to follow them and get hurt during missions, before she started going to Yondu. She'd apologize profusely before shutting down almost entirely, as if they'd threatened to beat her or something. None of their parenting techniques really seemed to match up with each other, but they all agreed never to yell at her again, even if she had done something really bad. 

It hurt all of them too much, to see her hurt. 

"Oh come on Peter," Rocket laughed while walking into his room. "That was funny, you got to admit," he chortled. 

"What if she shot you in the face?" The Terran countered. 

"I'd just shoot her back," he muttered as if it was common sense.  

Peter offered the small guardian a hard look in response, maybe it was time they had a talk about what the best way to raise the girl was. It was the inconsistency between all of them that often made the child confused about what she could and couldn't do. Perhaps the most consistent place for her at the moment was with the Ravagers, as Peter often noticed that Yondu had a very good handle on the girl and knew just what to say. Though he had had practice raising the Terran so he hardly counted that as fair. 

Sighing gruffly Peter sent Bryn on her way, telling her to sort her rocks so he could look at them later. The good thing about the child was that most negative things that happened could easily be smoothed over and forgotten as long as her stone collection was involved. Her demeanor would change immediately at the mention of her most favorite thing in the world and everything from before seemed to be forgotten. 

"Okay, I'll definitely show you!" The child cheered before sprinting off towards her room. It also didn’t hurt that the guardians tried not to talk about her obsession too much, so when they brought it up she was delighted all the more. "It'll be Awesomely cool!" 

"Did you shoot her in the face with one of her guns?" Peter questioned of the furry guardian below him. 

"Just once, so she wouldn't go after me again," he explained. "It worked pretty well." 

"Alright, we have to talk about this," the Terran groaned moving towards the dining table. 

He gathered the rest of the guardians together, though they grumbled and complained, to talk about what to do with the child. 

"I do not want to get rid of our child," Drax stated immediately. 

"That's not what we're talking about," Gamora stated with a glare. 

"We're past that, that was ages ago," Rocket growled. "She's ours already, geez." 

"What is this for then?" The large alien countered. 

"Bryn doesn't know who to listen to," Peter finally said. They gave him suspicious expressions, looks of confusion that switched to blank stares quickly. "And by that I mean we aren't consistent with each other." 

"As long as she's growing up she's fine, we're keeping her alive," Rocket murmured. Hadn't that been their main goal from the start? 

"Tiny child is fine with us," Drax nodded. 

"Haven't we had this conversation before," the furry guardian said skeptically.  

When Bryn was involved there were a lot of arguments and topics of conversation to weed through, because even though they all cared for the child about the same, their ways of showing it were different. Sometimes it felt a bit repetitive, having to sit down and talk about how it wasn't okay to give her empty promises, or tell stories about people they had killed. If it had been about anything other than their little girl it just wasn't important enough to mention. Bryn had easily become the glue that kept them all together and happy. 

"We're confusing her," the green skinned woman agreed. 

"How?" The smallest guardian snapped. Whenever there was something that involved his care of Bryn Rocket was defensive, because he cared for the girl more than almost anything else. The fact that they were accusing him of causing her damage pissed him off. 

"Well," Peter started off slow. "Yondu is with firm with her, you've noticed that she comes home with new rules sometimes, so at least he's consistent. But we're all over the place, and I'm not sure she knows who to listen to. Drax tells her no, not to shoot him and says nothing about anyone else, Gamora takes her darts away, Rocket does it back to her so she learns to leave him alone but then encourages her to shoot others. I take her gun, what does she learn from that?" 

It was confusing even for them to follow and seemed to dawn on them one at a time, Drax being the last of them to realize what was happening. 

"It'll be better if we all agree on something, or repeat what the other has said in order to give her stability," Gamora said.  

"And we probably shouldn't shoot her in the face if she gets us, that's something a child would do," Peter said glancing at Rocket. 

"I am as tall as a child," he countered, but wilted under the green woman's glare. "Fine, what should we say then, huh? What's the grand plan to keep her from doing this?" 

They talked for a little while longer, each of them as heated as the next, as it always was when the child was involved, they only wanted the best for her after all.  

Just before dinner Bryn was sprinting out of her room in search of Peter, grinning broadly when she saw that he seemed to sitting down waiting for her to be done. Since going to the museum the child had quite a few more pieces of quartz than she could have ever hoped for and now some Geodes were added to the bunch. She hadn't opened them yet, because she wanted to do it with everyone, so even Uncle Yondu and Kraglin could see how cool rocks were, but she loved them all the same. The simple mystery of what could be inside was enough to make her excited for the days to come. 

At first when she'd started collecting rocks the guardians merely smiled and asked her why she wanted them, before realizing that they were there to stay. None of them were ever as excited as she seemed to be about a new color or shine, but humored her nonetheless and ended up getting her a giant crate to put them in. It was now one of the child's favorite things to organize, her treasure hoard, and often kept her busy when her new family was getting ready for a mission or drop off. What she loved more than anything was showing it off to the people she loved, even if they seemed reluctant to listen. 

"Peter, I'm done, I finished," she smiled pulling at his sleeve anxiously. "I put the best ones in the front for you," she beamed. 

"That's awesome Bryn! You know what, I think Drax wants to see it too," he said as the large alien walked by. 

"I never said that," he commented the same time the girl gasped. 

"Really?" 

"No," Drax tried to get away from it. Although with the way Bryn had started pulling at his pants he knew there was no getting out of it now. The Terran knew that if the large alien was with him he'd diffuse the child's excitement faster by getting bored almost immediately.  

The announcement of dinner was actually what saved them from at least another half hour of Bryn talking about why some rocks formed differently than other ones. She'd read as much out of the book as possible, though some of the larger words were still giving her trouble, and word vomited it back to them. Which was very cute because at one point she was talking so fast all her comments merged into a mess of rushed words that made absolutely no sense at all. 

Part way through dinner Bryn caught sight of the squirt gun that Peter had placed on a high shelf that she, and Rocket, were unable to reach, else the little guardian would have given it back to her. The memory of the Terran's irritated face flashed in her mind and she was suddenly very shy in front of them. It was more a heavy guilt that clouded her as opposed to disappointment, she thought they were having fun along with her and hadn't realized it was annoying. 

"What's wrong?" Gamora asked catching her mood immediately. 

"I'm sorry I sprayed you in the face," she mumbled. "You can keep my gun if you want." Her comment had them all exchanging anxious glances before the green skinned woman replied. 

"It's yours," she insisted. "And you can have it back as long as you don't shoot us without asking, we have to say yes, otherwise it's not fair," Gamora explained. Bryn had been looking at her questioningly at first, trying to figure out why she would need to ask in the first place, because it ruined the surprise. Then she thought of what Rocket had told her after he'd gotten her in the face as payback and how angry Peter had looked. 

"Because you didn't want to get wet," she mumbled in understanding. Rocket almost grunted something about them all being babies before remembering that they had to be consistent with their comments about behavior from then on. 

"Exactly," Peter nodded. "You can always ask us to play first and then sneak around the corner and try to get us, it'll be like hide and seek," he added. 

"My mom used to play that with me!" Bryn cheered suddenly. "It was awesome, she was really good at finding me but not very good at hiding," she said thoughtfully. 

"Uncle Yondu is really good at seeking," the Terran muttered absently. Recalling all the times he had tried to get away from the Ravager Captain and failed because he knew the ship far better than anyone else. Bryn gaped at his comment and they could all tell that she was already excited to spend a day playing it with the Centaurian. 

"I have to ask him to play though, right?" She said surprising them. It was always a little shocking how quickly she picked up on things. 

"Yes," Gamora nodded. 

"It'd be kind of bad anyway, if you decided to hide without telling anyone anything," Rocket muttered. The other guardians paled at the thought of Bryn huddling in a vent with a smile on her face that withered away after being left alone for an hour or two with no one to find her. 

"It would be," Bryn agreed thinking of something completely different.


	28. Chapter 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bryn is good at Hide and Seek, but Kraglin is better.

"Did you find her yet?" Kraglin asked stopping at the sight of the captain in front of him. 

"Does it look like she's next to me?" Yondu growled at the first mate. 

The day had started off really well, with a lively breakfast and talk about the crystals she was growing back on the Milano. Promising that once they were finished she would bring a few to share with them, because they were so cool. Bryn had been dropped off the day before while the Guardians went off on a two day job, although they explained the child's rules about her guns so it would continue to be consistent. 

Neither Yondu or Kraglin had any work to do that day and suggested that they all play a game together. Bryn was the one that had picked it in the end, something that was called Hide and Seek. At first, when the game was confined to the cafeteria, it was kind of fun. Yet, wanting a challenge, Yondu changed the rules to encompass the entire ship, and the girl had been the first one to hide. 

"Why did you change it to the entire ship?" The Xandarian seethed. 

"I thought it would be more fun for her, and she was so easy to find before," the blue alien muttered.  

"That was when the room was filled with nothing but tables and benches," Kraglin countered. 

It often happened like this. Yondu would suggest something that he thought was fun, that he had done with Peter, and the first mate would shut him down with a few simple sentences. Even though the Xandarian was sarcastic and silly towards the girl he was nothing of the sort with anyone else, and usually scolded people with negativity. If the captain thought he would get any graces because he was technically in charge of everything he was wrong. 

"Did you check in the engine room?" Yondu held the man's stiff glare. 

"Bryn doesn't like Asudu, that's the last place she would go to," the man sighed. 

Kraglin sometimes forgot that during the first few times that Bryn had come aboard the Eclector that he had been the sole person in charge of her. Often times, he repressed the memories because of how badly he had treated her in the beginning, when he thought of her as nothing more than a pest. But for a while it had been just she and him while Yondu took care of other things, so there was bound to be things that the captain didn't know about her. Although he was sure that he had told the Centaurian about Asudu and how he'd messed with the child upon their first meeting. 

It made him feel, perhaps, more important than the captain, simply because he knew more about the child than he did. Except that it didn't really matter at the moment because they had both been looking for her a while now, and had so far come up with nothing about where she might be hiding. 

"Then where do you think she would hide, since you know her so well," Yondu cut back. 

"We need more people to look for her," was all the Xandarian said. He turned towards the med bay, where he knew that Zeyka would be more than happy to help them with their search.   

When they'd first figured out that they couldn't find Bryn at all it'd been more funny than anything. They knew the ship so well and yet a tiny child was hiding from them well enough that they hadn't even found a trace of her. After that had come the realization that Bryn was, in fact, a small alien that was doing a very good job at staying out of sight, and there were a lot of places that would be just big enough to allow her inside. Spots that they knew neither one of them would be able to reach, or even get into for that matter. That, and the fact that they had already been looking for almost an hour was making them edgy and irate with each other when they needn't be. 

Zeyka would at least be able to see her with how tall he was, and then he would also have to be the one to coax her out of the best hiding spot ever. The doctor was just finishing up with another Ravager when they came into the room with stony expressions on their faces. 

"Did you lose Bryn?" He asked without even turning around to look at them. 

By now the orange alien was used to having to pick up where other people had left off when it came to the child. Sometimes they would forget to give her medicine if she was hurt, or tell her what was good and wasn't when it came to making decisions. 

"We didn't lose her," Yondu snapped back almost immediately. He didn't like getting told that he didn't know the girl as well as his first mate, and certainly the tone the doctor took with him was just as unwelcome. "She's just very good at hiding." 

"Did you check in the vents?" He asked almost immediately. 

"Of course not, she's tiny," Kraglin scoffed. What he meant by such a comment was that she was too short to reach anything that high up, just the thought of her reaching up with her tiny hands was laughable. 

"Rocket told me she likes to hide in places that are the hardest to get to, that way she can watch everyone look for her. One time she was playing with Drax and it went on for so long he forget they were even playing," he chuckled at the memory of the smallest guardian's look of exasperation. 

"Well, at least we haven't forgotten," the Xandarian sighed. 

"She probably thinks she's being pretty clever," Yondu mumbled frowning. The fact that she could have been watching them the entire time made him want to smirk and frown at the same time. He was proud of her for being able to mess with them so well, but pissed off that she let it go on for so long.  

"I have an idea," Kraglin smirked. 

.o.o. 

If there was one thing Bryn liked more than Rocks it was hide and seek. It was something that went all the way back to playing games with her mother on Earth. The best place to hide had been in the garden under the flower bushes, because then she could watch her mom go back and forth trying to find her but failing. Most of the time she'd get bored and jump out to scare the poor woman, and usually end up with a promise to not do it again. 

This time she'd picked the vent that sent cold air into the hallway that connected the cafeteria and the storage rooms, since the engine room was close by it was always the warmest section. It probably didn't help that she was in there blocking most of it either, plus it was making her colder than she thought she would get. But it was worth it to see her uncles walking past her every five minutes grumbling under their breath, or jerking to look at something suddenly if they thought they saw it move. 

At home it was hard to find anywhere new to hide, and since the guardians now knew how she liked to play it was always Rocket that found her hiding in the vents or underneath the engines. He was the best seeker ever, and she told him so every single time, making the small creature puff out his chest proudly. 

The best part about hiding where she was at the moment was that she could also hear them talking to each other quite clearly. It was easy to figure out that Zeyka had joined their search from his deep voice that carried down the hall and into the vent. 

They talked idly to each other, and Bryn was immediately curious about what was going on to make them so happy. Was it a new rock? Did they forget about finding her like Drax did sometimes? 

"We were thinking about going to a new planet and taking Bryn, but since we can't find her," Yondu sighed shaking his head. 

"We'll have to tell the guardians that we lost their kid," Kraglin grunted. "Do you think we can pick up a new one when we get there?" He was almost smiling at the comment. 

A sense of dread filled Bryn so suddenly she almost cried out in shock, but there was something about the grin that the Xandarian was trying to conceal that made her suspicious. They weren't going to replace her, were they? No, the guardians wouldn't ever allow them to. Bryn was sure that at least Rocket would try to look for her more, but it was definitely a lie anyway, wasn't it? 

Bryn was so busy thinking about whether or not Kraglin was faking her out that she didn't catch Zeyka's glance in her direction as he saw where she was. Even though the doctor didn't say anything to the Ravagers next to him there was a slight nod of the head that told them where she was hiding. The first thing that had happened since they got Zeyka was to scan the ship for any children that might be hiding in the vents, which is what they should have done to begin with. Then there was the matter of how they were going to get her out of her hiding spot without telling her that they had given up and that she had won. 

"You're right, we can't replace her, Peter would probably be angry," Kraglin tried to sound serious. It was hard, to lie about something that would never happen, and keep a straight face while doing it. Knowing that somewhere above them Bryn was frowning and wondering what was happening, or maybe even freaking out. "I'll go get the ship ready." 

What was really happening was that he was going over to where they knew that Bryn had entered the vent, because he was sure that she'd come out sooner or later to set them straight. She'd done it a few times when Kraglin would joke about one of her rocks being less cool than another one. The best part was how she started huffing about all of her collection being the same level of awesomeness, she actually seemed to get angry. It was cute, and he loved teasing her enough to get the reaction again. 

Bryn wasn't sure what was happening, but she was at least positive that they weren't going to replace her, or she was almost ninety percent certain anyway. In the end it was the curiosity of a new planet that had her moving back to the entrance of the vent, if they were going somewhere she wanted to go too. She looked around the area carefully before going out backwards in order to reach her foot down to the boxes she had stacked up, but there was nothing but air.  

With a small humph she pushed herself out further, reaching for it with her shoes. Before she came into contact with it someone grabbed her around the waist and hoisted her into the air, turning her until she was facing a somewhat annoyed looking Kraglin. 

"You know we were thinking of replacing you," he muttered. 

"Nuh huh, you're lying, you wouldn't do that," she countered, flailing in his grasp. 

"Oh yeah?" He replied. "Why not?" 

"Because I'm too cool," she started. The first mate almost broke character immediately after she said this, he forced himself to frown deeply even though a smile tugged at his lips. "And I'm awesome, and if you get rid of me Rocket will blow you up. He told me he would, I know things," she added at the end. 

"What do you know?" Kraglin mused. He wanted to laugh so badly now, she was still struggling in his hands, but now her face was set in what appeared to be a mean expression that looked more comical than anything else. 

"You like me too much to get rid of me," she stated. Finally she stopped squirming and set him in a bland stare, one that reminded him of the expression that he often offered her when he was being sarcastic. It was just too much to handle now. 

"True," was all he said before putting her down. She looked confused, to see him smiling again, and to wonder at what had just happened. "Are you hungry for lunch?" He asked as if nothing had happened at all. 

"You tricked me," she shouted at him, pointing her small finger towards him. 

"Yeah, and it was awesome," he nodded. "Zeyka and you're uncle Yondu helped as well." 

"Next time I'll hide in an even better spot," she declared. 

"The vents are off limits," he said, turning towards the door.


	29. Chapter 29

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bryn's first water slide.

"I like the one with the little fish monsters on it," Rocket cut in. 

"It barely covers anything," Peter replied with a growl. "It's more for teenagers," he explained. 

"What the heck is a teenager?" The smallest guardian looked at him skeptically. 

"She'd probably like this one," Gamora muttered. She stopped in front of them, holding up a bathing suit that looked like a shark had taken a chunk out of it. It was a deep shade of red, the color of Terran blood, and Peter could already imagine Bryn's eyes lighting up at how cool it was. Although it still looked like it was for someone a little older, the girl needed something that was cute but still functional. 

"This one is way better," Yondu said, interrupting them. 

He was holding up a much smaller swimsuit, one that looked like it would actually fit Bryn, that was a light shade of teal, probably something close to the color of her eyes. It had a sea shell on the front and looked like a small pair of overall shorts with one big pocket on the chest and two on the thighs. 

"Yeah, that one is better," Gamora agreed with the Centaurian. 

It had been a couple months since Bryn's birthday and they had yet to do anything with the Ravagers like the little girl had been hoping for. She bugged them about it every once in a while but was otherwise content with her new toys and putting band aids on anything and everything that could be considered a type of injury or abrasion.   

In the end it was Yondu who had called them up with an idea for all of them to be able to get together, something that Bryn had said would be awesome to do. Which was going swimming with everyone. She explained that she and her mother had lived near a forest and often went to the river to cool off. Except that she couldn't remember the word for river and had said giant water snake instead, making it sound like a monster. 

There had been a job that was requested of the Ravagers a week or so ago, and the alien had said he didn't have any money, but would instead pay them with tickets to a water park. Yondu had laughed at the man's nerve for a few hours before deciding against the job and simply stealing the passes from him. Just imagining the look on Bryn's face when he said where they were going was enough to get him moving. 

At the moment, the child was sitting in the Milano with Kraglin, waiting to find out what they were going to do for the day, but ultimately happy that everyone was together again. She had no idea that they were already at the waterpark and that her family was taking care to pick out the perfect swimsuit for her. 

"Let's get it then," Yondu urged moving towards the checkout. 

.o.o. 

"Water everywhere?" Bryn gasped. 

"Yup, everywhere," Kraglin grinned at the child. 

The rest of them had just returned from getting new swimsuits and anything else they might need for the day ahead, and announced what they were going to be doing. Watching with amused smiles as the little girl in front of them stared wide eyed at each of them in turn before staring at the suit they handed her. 

"Will there be cool rocks there?" She asked trying to imagine what could possibly be hiding at the bottom of the pools they were going to explore. 

"I don't think it's that type of park," Peter muttered. 

"There are slides though," Rocket said. 

"Big ones," the first mate cut in. 

"Really?" Bryn whispered in awe. She'd never really been to any sort of play ground before, because her mother had always been careful to keep her hidden away on earth. One time the guardians had passed by one during one of their missions and she'd gaped at what they called a slide, but never went on it. 

"As big as Zeyka?" She questioned. 

"Bigger than Zeyka," Yondu chuckled. 

"No way," the child mumbled. The orange doctor was the biggest person she knew and to think that there was something larger than him was almost too much for her to handle. 

"Go put your suit on so we can go," Gamora urged of the child. 

Most of them had gotten the proper clothing for swimming as well, although Drax had argued that anything that had to be done could be done in his pants. If it weren't for Bryn none of them would ever come close to such a place as a waterpark, it just didn't matter while they were trying to make a living and enjoying life. Yet, now that they had the child in their care, they couldn't think of having a better day than spending it watching Bryn smile and run around laughing. 

As they walked into the giant spaceship, which housed the largest waterpark in the galaxy, Bryn could hardly contain her excitement. Everything they saw was either 'super cool' or 'really awesome'. Even if they were just looking at a sign that said no running if they were a species without sticky pads on their feet. The first thing Peter noticed as they were walking in was all the aliens and other families that were there, the place was full of more people than he was sure Bryn had seen in her lifetime. 

"One of us has to be with Bryn at all times, otherwise she'll get lost and we'll never be able to find her," Kraglin said while grabbing at the child's hand. 

"I was just thinking the same thing," Peter nodded as the rest of them glanced around anxiously. 

"Why does this place have to be so popular?" Rocket complained. 

"The guy said that the tickets were worth at least three thousand each," Yondu explained glancing around them. "I don't see what all the fuss is about, it's just a bunch of water." 

"It's huge!" Bryn shouted catching their attention.  

She was pointing frantically at one of the smaller slides in the park, one that was tinted orange, but transparent enough to see anyone who was going down it. While they were looking at it a large raft went down with three passengers, twisting around a couple other attractions before they were deposited into a pool of water. Splashing those who were waiting to see what happened. 

"Do you want to go on that?" Peter asked making Bryn nod her head vigorously.  "Who do you want to go with?" 

"Everyone," she said sternly, making them chuckle. 

"You can only go with two people though," the Terran said as she led the way. 

"We'll figure it out when we get up there," Gamora muttered as she walked by. 

"Kraglin and I can take her first," Yondu smirked.  

"I want to take the tiny one," Drax snapped. 

"Did you bring the tickets?" The Centaurian asked with a sneer. When it came to Bryn and spending time with her they all got a little crabby wanting it all for themselves.  

"We'll take her on the next one, big guy," Peter said patting Drax on the shoulder. 

At the top of the slide, after a nice ten minute wait, Kraglin sat down near the front of the raft while Yondu picked up Bryn to put in the middle of them. While they had been waiting she wouldn't shut up about what she thought was going to happen once they were going down it. But, now that they were just about ready to go, she looked a little scared, nervous even, for what was coming, 

"You can take your other child too," the operator said motioning towards Rocket. 

"I'm not kid," the little guardian growled wishing he'd brought his gun along. "What just because I'm small? I'm sure you have other small species here, do you call them babies too." 

"We're fine," Kraglin interrupted Rocket before he got too involved. 

Yondu watched as Bryn's little hands reached around for something to hold onto as the employee began to push them off the top of the slide. Finally her small fists grabbed onto his swim trunks as she braced herself for the worst, her eyes wide with what looked like excited terror. Making the Captain wonder if this had been a good idea after all. 

Halfway down the ride her face relaxed and she started laughing, even as her strawberry blonde hair whipped around her face and the outside raced past them she cheered. Kraglin had started shouting in fake fear before it fell away into cheering with Bryn, Yondu merely held onto Bryn as she raised her arms up in delight. Then they were in the water and Kraglin was grabbing at the child, unsure of whether or not she would be able to swim. 

"That was awesome!" She blubbered pushing her wet hair out of her eyes. "Can we go again, please? Please?" 

Kraglin laughed before setting her down on the edge of the pool, she was still flailing her arms around ecstatically when Yondu made it to them. 

"I think Kraglin had more fun than you did," the Centaurian teased. Bryn glanced up at the first mate questioningly before nodding in agreement. 

"That's because he made fun of me again," she muttered shaking her head. "He said that sometimes the slide breaks and spits people out, I didn't want to get spit out so I was nervous. I should have known better," she said glaring at the first mate. 

"Did you really?" Yondu looked at the Xandarian slightly exasperated.  

Before Kraglin could respond they were interrupted by giant whooping laughter that echoed out of the slide, getting louder and louder until Drax and Rocket exploded into the pool. The wave was so big it got the first mate in the face and almost knocked Bryn over even though she was on the other side. The smallest guardian, who had seemingly disappeared beneath copious amounts of water, popped up next to Bryn with a growl. 

"Don't go on any rides with him," he warned trying to wring water out of his fur. 

"The useless slide was joyous," Drax beamed as he came over to them. Kraglin was less than pleased to have been assaulted by a giant wave but said nothing as Yondu looked at him smugly. Probably thinking something about how he deserved it after what he had said to the child, even if it had only been a joke. 

Gamora and Peter came down last, arguing about something as they rose out of the water, but stopping short at the look of elation on Bryn's face. 

"Did you like it?" Gamora questioned of the child. 

"It was amazing," she said in awe. "Can we go on everything?" 

So far they had gone down one ride, that had taken around fifteen minutes alone. Peter and Yondu seemed to be thinking the same way as they glanced around the waterpark. It had to be at least a mile long, with upwards of twenty slides of varying size, wave pools, a very long lazy river, and many other things to explore. There was no way that they would be able to get through everything in one day, especially not with so many people around them, but Bryn didn't have to know that. 

"We can try," Rocket laughed as the girl cheered. 

They started talking about what to do next and the Xandarian couldn't help but notice Bryn looking around slightly nervous. He had to remind himself that the only people the child was ever around were the Ravagers and the Guardians, familiar faces that she had grown accustomed to. Everyone here was a stranger, someone who, according to what they had told her, couldn't be trusted and should be avoided. But how did you avoid them when they were everywhere? 

"But you have to stay close to us, you don't want to get lost do you?" Kraglin snapped before they started off towards another attraction. 

"I won't," she said defiantly. 

"How do you know you won't?" Yondu muttered eyeing her suspiciously.  

"Because I have Rocket's hand," she countered grabbing at the smallest Guardian. He was confused for a second before realizing that out of everyone, she had picked him. It made him turn around to the rest of them with a grin on his face, one that they didn't return. 

"My hand is better," Peter tried to argue. 

"Mine's way better," Kraglin sneered following the child as she stalked away.


	30. Chapter 30

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No one likes crowds.

Bryn's favorite thing thus far was what Peter remembered to be called the Lazy River, a long winding path that took them around and through the entire park. They each had their own innertube floatie, and could pick from many different sizes. Even Rocket and Bryn were able to get smaller ones for themselves. It was advertised to be at least a mile long and even featured a small waterfall and lagoon area to wait in should a party get separated. This had happened to Bryn and Drax almost immediately as the large alien had taken the child off of her own tube and with himself before charging on ahead.

The child had cheered the entire time, her gleeful shouts quickly fading off into the distance as they disappeared around a bend. Before they had even entered the river Peter and Gamora had instructed that they should stop and wait in the lagoons if they could no longer see each other. What worried them was whether or not Drax would remember such a thing as he laughed and jeered at those that they passed.

"Are you really counting on him to stop?" Kraglin growled as the rest of them paddled as fast as they could.

"No," Rocket muttered.

"We're counting on Bryn falling out and waiting for us by herself," Peter explained. "That way Drax will stop to go back for her and by that time we should be just about upon them."

"It almost sounds like this has happened before," Yondu chuckled. At which point Gamora leveled him with an exhausted stare. It happened so often with the pair that only Bryn had been trusted to follow the guidelines and make sure that they all stayed together. Obviously Drax did not care what was happening as long as he was with his kid.

"She knows how to swim, right?" The Xandarian questioned. Bryn had yet to be by herself in a body of water, they'd only been going down slides to get the lines out of the way. Whenever she'd slipped in there was always someone to pull her out before she even had a chance to try.

At that point Peter and Gamora looked at each other skeptically. Certainly, the child had told them that she could, right? Something about her mom on Terra. Right?

"She learned in the water snake, remember?" Rocket chided them with a frown. "Couldn't remember the word for river and you chuckled at her."

"Oh yeah," the Terran sighed in relief. Now that he mentioned it Peter could recall the look of pride in Bryn's face as she told them of her ventures with her mother.

"I knew that too," Kraglin mused with a grin.

"You just can't help yourself, can you?" The Centaurian mumbled. He'd forgotten how mercilessly sarcastic his first mate was, the comments had faded out completely after Peter had left them. Only now that there was another child in their care had it flared back up again.

"I really can't," the Xandarian replied.

"Did anyone keep her floatie?" Rocket asked turning around to face them.

"Nope, forgot all about it," came a quick response from Peter.

Only a few minutes later were they able to hear someone talking loudly over the lazy rush of the water around them. As they turned another corner a sight they weren't expecting greeted them quite quickly. An alien wearing an employee name tag and yellow armband was holding Bryn up as if she was an offering for a higher being. He had six tentacle looking arms that waved gently with the current of the water, although one was holding onto their child a little snugly. Probably making sure she didn't float away.

"Is this your child?" He asked each group that passed him by.

"There they are," it was Bryn who called out to them before the worker could turn. She started wriggling in the things grasp, making the dark blue alien mutter something before motioning for them to follow him into the lagoon.

"Where the heck is Drax?" Rocket bristled. The fact that they had to bother the staff was something the smallest guardian didn't like, mostly because he hated it when other people thought it was okay to touch Bryn.

Once they were out of the way he handed Bryn back to Yondu, who had been the first one to step up and reach for her. The tentacle man went on the say that she had been trying to swim against the current and kept bumping into the walls and others groups so he'd intervened. 

"His name is Sigrún," Bryn chirped in just as the alien started to scold them. "Isn't that a cool name?"

Kraglin and Yondu smirked at each other, it was something they were still getting used to. At first Bryn didn't trust anyone, at least until she found out what their name was, and then she was determined to make them a friend. Peter, Gamora, and Rocket on the other hand merely shook their heads amused. The good thing about their kid and her unending joy was that it made it hard for anyone, even angry workers, to get mad at her, because she was simply elated to talk to new people. Although they did find her to be less enthusiastic should she find herself alone with a stranger.

"It is a cool name," Peter agreed giving her a smile before turning to the employee. "Thanks for grabbing her." At this point they had dropped through their floaties in order to stand on the bottom of the pool.

"If you lose her again look underneath the red slide, we take all lost kids there," he explained before sinking into the water and letting himself get taken by the current while Bryn said goodbye to him loudly. 

"He was nice," she nodded.

"B," the Terran caught her attention. "Where's Drax?"

"The water ate him," she said as if it was common knowledge. She even motioned her hands to show a mouth or something. "There was a mouth, and we fell and I don't have a tube, he had it, but it was gone when I came back up. He got eaten by the mouth and I went the other way, but I made it back," she explained. Bryn, at least, seemed very excited about the entire thing, even though it made almost no sense.

"So, there's a mouth?" Peter stared at her skeptically.

"All I got from that is that there's a fork in the river and Drax is an idiot," Rocket muttered entering back into the current. "We'll probably see his dumb face in a minute or so."

Yondu kept Bryn with him, positioning himself back to a sitting position in the center of the tube before pulling the child next to him to sit in the little space that was left. She giggled when Kraglin splashed them with water, before making a feeble attempt to splash the Guardians as well. In a few minutes time they came upon the mouth that had eaten their friend, and part of the kid's story made sense now. It looked a mix between a shark and something else, and split off of the original path to a faster current and some slight drops that would make for an interesting ride.

It was a good thing Drax had been unable to take Bryn in that direction because Peter was sure she could have easily fallen off and smacked her head into the wall with such strong pull. There wasn't a lagoon close by so they continued down the slower path for a little while until the two rivers met up again.

"Friends," it was unmistakable whose voice called out to them. "You have found our child, how smart of you," he praised, though it made little sense. "Come Bryn, let us continue," he reached to take her from The Captain. Before he could even touch her Gamora pushed him with the current and out of the way.

"No, you're done," she snapped. 

"Maybe later then," the large alien hung his head. He'd learned never to argue with the green skinned woman when it came to anything concerning the child, because she was usually right and could hit hard sometimes.

"Maybe," Peter agreed.

After the river ended they got some food, which everyone devoured after chasing Bryn around the park for the past few hours caught up with them. It was a great lot of fun they were having, but Kraglin could tell that they were going to be exhausted by the end of it. They'd fought people before, and saved the galaxy, yet it felt more tiring to dodge people in a park than it did to dodge hits and shoot down ships. 

The next couple hours saw them in the kid section of the waterpark, where there was a playground of sort with play guns that shot out water at whomever it was pointed. Slides that only went a few feet down, a couple zip lines, and a giant bucket of water that had knocked both Rocket and Bryn over with the force of its fall.

One of the last things they wanted to do was go in the wave pool, where Bryn got to show off her swimming skills as she disappeared for a few moments before popping up a good twenty feet away. It made Peter wonder how she could go so far and fast with such small arms and legs. She grinned at them broadly as Gamora swam out to meet her, dodging other aliens every few seconds as they continued to pour into the pool. If there was one thing the Guardians and Ravagers were excited about near the end of the day it was the promise of no crowds.

The few times they went out shopping or had to land somewhere to sell, the markets were busy, but never as packed as the water park was. It made them all slightly anxious and a few tines Yondu wished he had his weapons on him in order to get some of them out of the way when they pushed in too close. Since the lagoon incident they had almost lost Bryn twice, though both times she was quickly caught by Peter and Kraglin. One time it was because a group went by quickly and she couldn't find her way through all the feet and traffic, and the second time it was because someone had run past her too fast. She'd jerked to get out of the way and fallen into a pool.

None of them were going to miss the crowds, that was for sure.

"You can pick one more thing, and then we're leaving, okay?" Peter said making the girl nod. They'd spent most of the day at the park and all of the adults were ready to go home. She'd never admit it, but Bryn was tired of moving around people, the bustle on the Eclector was welcome, because everyone was a little familiar. But all these people were stranger and she could only do with so many before it got irritating.

"I wanna go one more time," she said paddling her arms to stay afloat. She liked going under water the best, because it was easier to go around others when she could simply go underneath them.

"One more," he nodded. "Meet Uncle Yondu on the other side, see, he's waving." As he finished his sentence Yondu sat on the edge of the pool and let his legs dip into the water. Bryn nodded before taking a deep breath and disappearing under the mass of aliens and people in the space between them. It usually took her about thirty seconds to make it to the other end, she'd even asked them to count for her.

At thirty-five seconds, her most consistent time, Bryn didn't appear. After a minute, she still remained unseen, which made Peter think she was trying to play a trick on them.

"Where's Bryn?" Kraglin asked as Yondu searched the area around them. 

"She hasn't come up yet?" The Captain replied somewhat anxiously.

"What?" The Xandarian scoffed, before catching the worried look off Peter from the other side. He jumped back into the pool immediately, diving deep to see if she was sinking to the bottom or had gotten caught somewhere. The only thing he could see were a couple underwater life guards, and some aliens hanging out near the bottom.

He broke the surface with a gasp as Gamora swam over to him. 

"She's not down there," he gasped turning to look for her again.

"Bryn!" Drax was the first one to shout. She always answered the big guy, even when they were playing a game and she was supposed to be hiding she shouted his name just as he shouted hers. But there was no reply. 

Rocket was the only one who'd seen what happened.


	31. Chapter 31

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not a joke.

None of them had seen the creature that had been watching them from afar, or more specifically, watching Bryn.  It'd waited patiently for the perfect moment to take action, realizing in the process how close the family was to each other, and how much the child meant to them, as there was always one of them with her. Except when she was underwater anyway.

What Rocket saw was Bryn getting snatched. He hadn't even been paying attention to the girl and was instead watching a blob like alien morph in and out of the pool as if it was one with all the water. It almost made him gag, because for all they knew the entire park's liquid was a bunch of the things just floating around, which was strange to him. He'd seen her by chance, and was only able to recognize her by her limp black hands and feet, as most of her body was covered by the thing holding her. It was some tall thin thing that looked to be entirely made up of tentacles, it's dark green body held Bryn's unconscious form secretly. 

He didn't say anything to the rest of the guardians, they were too far away to be any help, he was at the beginning of the pool, watching the alien sneak into the crowds. They wouldn't hear his voice even if he yelled, with all the other people there it would get eaten by the noise, but her could certainly shout at the perpetrator. 

"What do you think you're doing?" Rocket shouted after the thing. He was positive that the alien wouldn't turn around, but he couldn't just say nothing and let him get away. He ran after her quickly, doing his best to keep the alien in his sights, but quickly losing them amongst all the other creatures around him. That was when he started to panic, because they'd disappeared so easily and he'd done nothing.

"What is it?" Kraglin asked coming to stop behind him. "Do you know where Bryn is?"

Rocket didn't stop running, and was doing his best to push around and against the crowd, hoping for a glimpse of that dark green skin that was holding precious cargo.

"Someone took her," he rushed.

"What?" The first mate hadn't quite heard him, and only caught half of it.

"A green tentacle alien has her!" He shouted without turning around.

"No really?" Kraglin chuckled. "Where's Bryn? Everyone is freaking out," he muttered cutting in front of the little guardian in order to get some answers. The Xandarian was always a fan of jokes, but this was taking it a little too far, only Rocket didn't crack a smile. In fact, he pushed past the man and continued darting around, mumbling about his missing weapons and how he wished he could kill everyone. "Rocket!"

At that point the guardian glanced back at Kraglin with a disgusted expression that had a trace of fear in it. The words ripped through him like a tornado as Rocket rushed back into the crowd once more, leaving the first mate to sputter and choke on his own breath at which point the rest of their group caught up with him. Yondu looked angry, and had figured that this was yet another trick by Kraglin and Bryn to play on the rest of them, but one look at the Xandarian's face had him curious.

"What is it?" Peter asked, not catching the expression for what it was.

They jumped into action as soon as Kraglin had filled them in on what Rocket had said in passing. Each one of them as frantic to find her as the next and none of them coming up with anything. After all, none of them had actually seen what happened, it was the smallest of them that had made the accusation that she was really gone. And he was nowhere to be seen, none of them had seen him since they lost Bryn at the pool.

There was no time to think about what was happening, or how terrified everyone was about what might have happened. More than anything the shared hope was that Rocket was actually playing a joke on all of them and he and Bryn would be waiting for them back on the ship. Then they would each yell at him in turn until their voices ached for what he had put them through, yet something in the back of Gamora's mind said it wouldn't happen that way at all.

None of the employees had been any help, although they insisted on calling security, as if they could do anything to find a tiny child in the massive park. Gamora was doing her best to talk to them calmly and describe what Bryn looked like and what she had been wearing. Drax had taken to screaming at anyone that was green and Yondu was already threatening some of the staff when Rocket returned in a flurry.

"We have to go now," he said in a rush.

"What happened?" Yondu shouted. The small guardian didn't respond and instead headed for the exits, moving as quickly as possible until they caught up with him at the doors. It was Peter who stepped in front of him in order to get answers.

"What did you see?" He questioned. None of them had been able to think straight since Kraglin had passed on the word that Bryn had been taken by someone. Their heads repeating the words over and over again which was starting to make them sick and frantic. He looked up at the Terran with a distant gaze, his thoughts caught up in what to do next, what had to happen in order to get her back.

"I checked the camera's and the thing that took Bryn is already gone." He explained shoving past Peter and continuing on his way to the ship. "The cameras only went so far and I'm not sure where they're going."

"She's already gone?" Gamora asked softly.

It had all happened too fast for any of them to process or truly absorb the amount of terror that was currently seeping under their skin. Not even forty-five minutes ago Bryn had been with them, smiling and carefree. Complaining about how all the rocks at the water park were fake and she wasn't allowed to take them home and now she'd been stolen from them.

"Whoever took her has done this before," Yondu sneered, his face set in a dark glare. "They pulled her away from us so easily, as if they had practiced it multiple times." He mumbled.

"But we're going to get her back," Drax said confidently. "We have to. She's one of us now."

"Of course we'll get her back!" Rocket shouted, turning to shout at the large alien. "What do you think I was doing the last ten minutes, watching a fricken movie?! I stole all their surveillance video's. We're going to check every single detail until we find something that tells us where she is, where they took her!"

"Why would they take her?" Peter muttered under his breath as they made it to their ships.

"Because they want to hurt us?" Gamora replied hesitantly. They'd certainly made enemies in the galaxy, and she wouldn't put it past anyone to go after the weakest member of their team. Although it was pretty low to take it out on a child of all things.

"Probably because she's cute," Kraglin seethed. He didn't want to think about what could happen to her out in space, with all the weirdo's that existed she could be the fancy of some strange fetish or sold for entertainment. It made him sick just picturing it, Bryn standing up at an auction or even being handed off to a private collector.

"That purple dude said she was rare," Peter added. "As if she was something you'd find hiding in the back of a pawn shop or something."

The word made Yondu shudder slightly. When they'd taken Bryn to see the collector he'd said something pretty similar about the way she looked. At that point he'd promised her silently that they would never let anything else happen to her but that had been a lie, hadn't it? The only good thing about all that had happened was that Bryn was unconscious, so at least she wasn't freaking out yet. 

"What if it's the same guy as last time?" Gamora wondered aloud. Rocket and Peter jerked to look at her with worried expressions on their faces. As far as they knew the Gatherer had been able to escape prison and was hiding out somewhere, hoping no one would ever look for him again. But the two Ravagers knew better than to even think about that.

"We already took care of him," Kraglin said with a hint of smugness.

Not long after they found out everything that had happened to Bryn the crimson clothed crew went hunting for the guy. They'd found him in some backwater planet, doing his best to lay low until people forgot about what he'd done. But Yondu had put an end to that. When Kraglin told Bryn that there was no way the guy would ever come back for her, he meant it.

"Good," Rocket nodded. It was the smallest bit of reassurance they could afford at the moment, as there was nothing else but the overwhelming feeling of dread every minute that they realized Bryn was probably being taken farther and farther away from them.

"Let's go back to the Eclector and look through everything," Yondu snapped. 

They could just as easily have done everything in the Milano but the Centaurian wanted to be ready for anything. Bryn had made enough friends in the ravagers that should something happen to her, like it just did, there would be an army fighting to get her back. And he wanted them to be ready.

.o.o.

Bryn roused awake slowly, her head stinging in slight pain as she tried to get up. When she opened her eyes the world around her spun quickly, making her whimper at the sickening sensation that washed over her.

"Shhh, I got you," someone soothed her softly. It was a voice she didn't recognize, certainly someone she had never spoken to before, Bryn liked to think she was pretty good at remembering those that had talked to her. She tried to say something at that point but found her throat was too dry, as if she had eaten something too quickly again and it was stuck in.

There was metal underneath her, which made Bryn think she was waking up on the Ravager ship again, as she'd done it before. Fallen asleep in some random spot only to wake up completely oblivious to where she was and what was happening. But that wasn't right, because she could remember being at the water park that day and she had been swimming and then there had been nothing after that.

Again, she tried to open her eyes, if only to try and figure out where she was or see who was there with her, but the world spun faster this time. A gentle touch found her bare arms and reminded Bryn that she was still in her swimsuit and slightly damp from her earlier activities. The coolness of her drying hair caused a shiver to travel through her and the smooth feeling of something on her shoulder returned gently.

"Go back to sleep little one." The voice was so soft Bryn couldn't be sure if she was dreaming it or not, but couldn’t help the way her eyes began to droop closed once more. Maybe the next time she woke up the room wouldn’t be spinning anymore, and then she could probably meet this person who seemed to be caring for her. 

Just before the darkness took her it spoke again.

"This is no place for a child."


	32. Chapter 32

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bryn wakes up and the adults get mixed information.

The next time Bryn roused awake there was much of the same except that her head didn't feel like it was going to explode every time she blinked. Small comfort came at the feeling of a soft touch that she remembered from before, it curled around her ankles and felt like she was brushing against a soft blanket. Waking up had been slow because she had another dream about being chased by the Gatherer, every time she turned a corner he was there in front of her with a wicked smirk on his face. She'd only woken up when the floor in her nightmare gave way and she'd fallen a short distance to the ground where her breath was taken from her and the rest of it had gone dark.

Terror had not been able to find her the first time, not when such a soothing voice had urged her back to sleep as if nothing was wrong, but it found her now. The space reminded her of the time she spent locked away, waiting for when it was her turn to fight again, or refuse to fight anyway. It felt like she couldn't breathe for a moment and all she wished she could do was walk down the hall and go into Kraglin's room. It wouldn't be there, she knew that, she probably wouldn't even be able to open the door, but her mind was working to calm her down and the first mate always did that the best. Around her was a room made completely of metal with a single light fixture in the ceiling that offered a dim glow that was barely bright enough for Bryn to see that there were others in the room with her.

A hulking figure was near the opposite corner of the room, it had to be at least as large as Drax, although not quite so tall as Zeyka. It looked to be made up of different colored tendrils and soft looking tentacles that were gold, silver, blue, and green. A small pale blue one was touching her skin ever so softly, as if it was trying to calm her down before she even started to freak out. Next to that creature was what looked like a small white wolf cub with its skull on the outside of its skin and dark hollow eyes that stared at Bryn eerily. There was also a dull glowing figure that she almost missed hovering close to the ceiling, faded orange light barely emanated from it and made it impossible to tell what it looked like.

"She's awake," the small white creature spoke. Its bone jaw opened just barely, but it sounded like the voice was all around her instead of coming from the figure. The comment caused the large thing to turn around and train its one large eye on her. Perhaps she should have been scared, with how it was looming towards her, but it didn't seem threatening and its orb had such a cool color she couldn't help but wish it was a rock she could take home.

"Who are you?" Bryn asked breathlessly. Finding that her throat still felt scratchy and dry, as if she'd been yelling all night.

"My name is Chuap, the multi-colored creature responded. Nothing on their figure had moved but the noise was distinctly from them and sounded more like a whisper. "This is Sah and over there is Klius," a golden tendril motioned from the wolf alien towards the glowing one slowly, as if moving through water. "And you're Bryn, right?"

"How did you know?" She asked softly. Had they met in different circumstances Bryn might have gasped in awe and said how cool it was that Chuap already knew, but there were other things she was curious about first.

"Names are sticky," it started. "They're all over anyone that has one, and when I touch them it's almost like I can pick it up." It shouldn't have made that much sense to Bryn, but somehow, she imagined it as an invisible nametag that only that creature could see and her brain was able to accept it.

"Cool," she muttered under her breath. It was quiet for a moment before Bryn spoke again. "Are they going to sell us?"

The Questioned surprised Chuap. The alien had gotten used to children being clueless and afraid, like Sah was, they weren't supposed to know what was going on, unless they had been through something like this before. Some children had been quickly conditioned to a harsh reality, it was something that the Large alien had witnessed on their own planet. It was much preferred that they were laughing and running around trying not to trample over tendrils or leaves that were connected to anyone.

"Yes, they are," Chuap said. It was meant to sound soothing, but Sah shivered and whimpered at the words and the small glowing Klius withered all the more as if someone had flipped the light switch. Bryn nodded as if she was exhausted, her head looking ready to loll to the side before she leaned against the wall quietly.

"Why did they take us?" Sah spoke again. Even though the eyes looked vacant still Bryn couldn't help but think it looked empty and sad, like all the children that the Gatherer had once owned.

"Because we're special," Chuap replied in the same tone. 

In the top corner Klius flashed weakly, and though Bryn had been given a translator she couldn't quite understand what the small creature was trying to convey. The little wolf alien wilted at such an answer and turned away from them. He had been taken the day before and, because he hadn't been exposed to the same stuff that Bryn had, took longer to calm down and get to a more controllable demeanor. He was probably younger than the other child, and although Chuap was unsure of what his species was supposed to look like he had to be unusual if he had been taken. It didn't take long for Sah to reveal that he was the only white colored one in his village.

"I'm tired of being special," he whispered.

"How old are you?" Bryn asked getting up carefully. She walked over to Sah and sat down next to him. When she was with the Gatherer she tried not to talk to the other children, because there was a good chance they might not be there the next day, and she was usually the youngest one there.

"Five long nights," he answered. She wasn't sure what that meant but figured it was probably the way that they said years and just kept going as if it was normal.

Since she was older it was her responsibility to take care of Sah, because he was younger. She'd seen it happen with other families when the older siblings would watch over the smaller ones. Bryn tried to do the same thing with Groot, but he was almost out of his pot now and seemed intent on becoming independent. Even though this was a terrible situation to be in she was almost excited that someone needed her to be grown up now. Although Chuap was watching over the both of them, she still felt the need to make sure that the little wolf creature had another person to depend on.

It was hard, because the thought of Groot made Bryn think about her family and hope that they were looking for her. They would look, wouldn't they? They wouldn't think that she had run away from them without saying goodbye right? If uncle Yondu was there he could just whistle and get them all to safety, or Rocket would make a giant gun and blow up the side of the wall.

They had promised to stay together, no matter what, so she had to believe that they were out there looking for her. Yet at the same time it was a little strange, and maybe it was because she had already been through all of this before that she wasn't crying or freaking out as much as she had when it had happened before. 

"My family will come save us," she whispered to the smaller creature. "They promised."

But there was a little part of her, a voice that she had ignored for so long that is sounded no more than a whisper, that said differently.  _What if they don’t?_  It asked, and she told it to shut up.

-o-

In another part of the galaxy there was an entire crew going crazy. After barely changing out of their swimsuits and getting onto the Eclector Drax had not stopped shouting about their missing child and soon the entire ship knew what was happening. Even though Bryn was not a favorite of everyone, it was still nice to see a kid running around the halls happily and talking to anyone who looked her way. They also knew that there would be hell to pay if anyone didn't help the captain's self-proclaimed niece, and the Doctor had also threated not to treat anyone who refused to help out.

"You can die for all I care," were his exact words.

Thus far they had found dozens of other parents and aliens who had had someone from their family or village taken while they were visiting another planet or stopping to get supplies. In most cases the one who was taken was never seen again, although a couple of them had been released by whoever bought them and gone home. Gamora had tried to get in contact with them, but only successfully talked to one who didn't offer them much to hope for.

According to what they had been told by the person who bought him the alien said that he was kidnapped because of his rarity, which confirmed what Peter had suggested might be the case. Potential buyers weren't given any information about who or what was going to be auctioned off until a profile was made for the alien being sold the morning of. Bidding would go on for six hours until noon and then delivered the same day. Usually the money was transferred into a random account and the purchase was dropped off at the buyer's place without any hassle and little to no contact. The victim they had talked to said she was unconscious for the delivery and had been handed over in a cage.

"It's like they're selling pets or something," Rocket hissed.

"I'm sure there are plenty who see them that way," Yondu growled at the new information.

They'd asked the victim if her buyer would be willing to help them get Bryn back, but once a customer had abandoned or lost a product the connection was severed and they would no longer receive an invite to place a bid. This didn't include the instances where a purchase died or was killed, as it was seen as normal and a way to make more money with a replacement.

"So we need to find a buyer," Kraglin said bitterly. It was easier said than done at this point.

"Maybe the Nova Corps will have some connections we can use," Peter sighed. He really didn't like bothering them, especially when there was a chance they might get arrested again, what with all the stuff they did for money there was a good reason too.

"We can force it from them," Drax said.

"We can ask them," Peter said firmly. The truth would more than likely be better than simply demanding information.


End file.
